


Operation Comescu

by CALLEN37



Series: The Factory. [1]
Category: NCIS: Los Angeles
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family Secrets, Gen, Kidnapping, Secrets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-17
Updated: 2014-03-30
Packaged: 2018-01-09 01:53:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 24
Words: 63,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1140048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CALLEN37/pseuds/CALLEN37
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Operation Comescu is all about you….Vance had said. He'd let Callen fill in the blanks for himself and was pleased when Callen got it wrong. He'd been shocked when he had first read the file Hetty had handed him about his agent. She had assured him that he had no idea and would never know, until it was time for him to be activated. His hatred of the Comescu's would eventually be a force in their favor, it was a long term plan, but Agent's Resnikov and Callen had planned it to perfection.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

2012.

Hetty had panicked when she saw the missive from Director Vance.

It wasn't like the diminutive operations manager to panic, but she'd been working on this for years ever since she'd had the call in 1975 from her agent in Romania. It was time for her to leave.

She quietly made a call, sent a message to the head office in D.C, downloaded some information and left.

* * *

_**1975 - CIA field office, Paris.** _

Hetty sat in her office in Paris, watching the people on the street walking happily by, when her day was turned around by a call.

"Lange." She said quickly.

"Hetty, its Clara…" the voice was hushed as cars rushed by in the background.

"Clara, you and Agent Resnikov are due to call in tomorrow, is there an issue?" she asked.

"We sent you our plans, are they still viable?" Clara Callen asked Hetty.

Hetty looked over the plans, "I took them to Director Colby, and he has approved them if you feel it can be done."

"Nikolai has been told he is to watch the children this week; Alexa is going out on a birthday shopping trip with her father. The youngest two, the twins, Ilena and Gregori are to take a trip to the beach, just outside their home, it is the perfect time for this."

"Very well we will arrange for an extraction." Hetty told her.

"Nicolai will go with Ilena and I will take Gregori. Are our covers still intact?" she asked.

Hetty assured her that they were and went over the rest of the plan.

* * *

5 year old Gregori woke up holding a small blue bunny he climbed out of bed and walked unsteadily down the corridor,

" _ **Where are you off too**_?" Alexa said looking at her little brother, it was her 12th birthday today and she was looking forward to a father daughter shopping trip.

" ** _I want papa._** " Gregori said his bottom lip wiggling.

Alexa held open her arms and held her little brother, " _ **Did you have a nightmare**_?" she asked.

Gregori nodded his blond hair tickling his sister's nose.

Alexa laughed, " _ **Ok, let's go and see papa together**_."

Gregori Comescu Senior sat up in bed reading the paper, he looked over at the photo of his English born wife Amy who had died in childbirth five years ago, and his first wife who had 'disappeared' after a tragic affair eight years ago.

Gregori loved his children and although he was known in the criminal underworld as a tough man, to his children he was simply Papa, and he loved them fiercely.

He looked up as a small knock sounded on his bedroom door; he folded up his paper and laid it on his nightstand.

" _ **Come in…**_ " he called,

The door opened and a small hand attached to a rabbit came around the corner, he smiled and then bit it back as the hand was followed by his first born son in his new blue bunny suit his covered feet padding against the carpet.

" _ **G**_?" Gregori said to his son, who was still having trouble pronouncing his name; G was all he could say. " ** _It is early son, why are you up_**?"

" _ **I had a bad dream papa**_." Gregori said his blue eyes filling with tears.

The elder man patted the bed and his son walked over and climbed in. He counted to twenty and waited for the second hand to come around the door, " _ **Ilena**_?" he said as his 5 year old daughter poked her blonde curls around the corner.

" _ **I had a bad dream papa…**_ " she said as well, he patted the other side.

Both twins snuggled up against him and he reveled in the softness of both children.

Alexa listened outside the door, nodding that both children were now being comforted and headed downstairs to eat breakfast.

* * *

Gregori looked at his youngest two children. " _ **Ok tell me about your bad dream**_." He said.

G sat on his knees and looked up at his father, " _ **There was a bad man…he took me away from you and laney**_ " G said grabbing his sisters hand. " _ **I couldn't play with her anymore and I was all alone**_."

Ilena shook her head in agreement and it was another time when his twins amazed him having the same dream.

" ** _Ilena, Gregori, You are my special gifts, I love you both immensely now I know I am going out with Alexa today but you will be staying here with your cousin Vasile and my bodyguard Nikolai will be looking after you, I trust him a lot, if you are good would you three like to go and play on the beach today_**?"

The twins nodded.

Gregori Senior wiped the tears from the eyes of his two youngest, " ** _Then go find your aunt Helena and get dressed and some breakfast_** ,"

G hugged his father and slipped off the bed chatting to his sister in English as they went.

Gregori smiled, he didn't know English very well, Amy had been teaching him, but he was glad that his sister, and Amy's best friend, Helena knew it and had taught the twins from birth.

Gregori walked into the kitchen some ten minutes later to find all three of his children eating.

" _ **Happy birthday Alexa**_." He said placing a kiss on his eldest daughters' head.

He nodded to Nikolai who stood by the door guarding the children.

" ** _And where is my favorite Nephew... Vasilie_**?"

A three year old boy came in holding a package, " _ **Alexa…from me and Mama…Happy birthday**_ ," he said.

He carefully placed the package on the table and ran over to his cousin, " _ **G! Look I have a new car**_!" he said taking the blue toy car out of his pocket, " _ **It is a British Vauxhall Victor**_." Vasilie said showing off his pride and joy.

Little Gregori shifted in his seat desperate to go and play with his cousin.

He looked up at his father, " _ **Papa…Can I go and play with Vasilie…please**_." He grinned.

Gregori nodded, " _ **Stay in the house for now**_." He told the two boys.

They nodded and ran off to the living room.

* * *

Gregori motioned to Nikolai and he followed him into the office.

" _ **I am taking Alexa to the city today; I want you to take the twins and their cousin to the beach. The youngest two both had a bad night; something nice will cheer them up. This evening I have a meeting with the Salanitra Family about expanding our interests into America, so I will need the children settled before he come back, I will have Helena deal with them.**_ "

Nikolai noted all he was told and nodded.

Gregori took his wallet from his desk and checked his bank book.  _ **"I think I have enough to cope, little girls are such a drain on the accounts sometimes**_ ," he smiled, " _ **One day Gregori will take over the family, and right now I need to lay the groundwork for all the things he will accomplish when he grows, do you know he is already fluent in three languages, Romani, English and Russian, he is so bright I am so looking forward to all he will accomplish**_."

Nikolai's blood ran cold but his face remained impassive. " ** _I'm sure he will be_**." He said.

Gregori Senior nodded and stood up, " _ **Enjoy your day on the beach my friend**_." He said, he walked past Nikolai and over to the dining room, " ** _Alexa are you ready_**?" he asked.

Alexa grinned, " ** _Yes Papa_**." She handed her plate to Helena and turned kissing Ilena on the cheek as she walked past, " _ **Bye bye Laney**_." She said using her brothers nick name for his twin.

G heard the door slam and ran headlong to the window, " _ **Papa! PAPA!**_ " He cried tears rolling down his face.

Nikolai picked the boy up, " ** _Hey G…it's ok, your Papa will be back later_**." He said he looked around for his twin, she was sitting at the table crying as he walked in, " ** _Why are you crying Ilena_**?"

She shrugged, " ** _G sad_**." She said by way of explanation.

" _ **Get cleaned up you three, and we can go out to the beach**_." He said.

He looked at Helena and smiled as all three children whooped and ran to get ready.

* * *

As the housekeeper turned to help the children Nikolai slipped into Gregori's office.

He picked up the phone and dialed a local number, "It's on today, I will be on the beach outside the house, tell them just the two blond haired twins, not the younger child." he said quietly.

He put the phone down and called to Helena, " ** _Are they ready_**?"

G and Ilena came down in shorts and a T-shirt a bucket hung between them. Vasilie came behind them.

Helena gave all three children a kiss, " _ **Now you be good for Nikolai, I will see you all later**_."

She waved them off and returned to her kitchen.

* * *

Dobrashin Garasovic ran into the kitchen three hours later and looked around, he saw his wife at the sink, " _ **Helena…where are the children**_?" he asked worried.

" ** _They are with Nikolai on the beach, what is wrong my husband_**?" she asked.

" _ **Nikolai?!**_ " he fled out the door and down the small path.

Helena following quickly behind.

Vasilie was running to the house crying as his father ran past him. Helena picked him up, " _ **Are you hurt baby**_?" she asked.

" _ **Nikolai told me I couldn't play anymore and sent me home.**_ " He sobbed. She hugged her son and kissed him thanking God he was safe.

Dobrashin looked over and saw Gregori playing with a sandcastle and breathed a sigh of relief that he was safe, he walked over not wanting to alarm the boy, " _ **Here you go G…**_ " he handed him the soldier he had painted for him that weekend. " _ **Pack up your things, we will have to go back soon**_ " he said.

Gregori nodded and but worked on finishing his castle first, it was in direct line of sight of his Papa's office and he wanted him to see it when he got back.

* * *

Garasovic looked at the woman with dark hair that was sitting nearby and realized with a cold feeling in the pit of his stomach that he couldn't see Ilena.

"I know who you are," he said walking up to her and pointing a gun at the woman, keeping his body between what he was about to do and young Gregori. "Where is Ilena?"

"You're too late, Nikolai has her, both children will be trained and they will destroy the family." Clara said with a laugh. "Nikolai is CIA, as am I," she reached for her gun and fell back sharply as Dobrashin shot her.

He turned back to Gregori…but he was gone.

"Gregori?!" he looked around there was no sign of him, "Gregori!" he called, "G!"

* * *

**_1982 - California_ **

"G!" the voice came again and Callen shot up in his seat.

"Yes Sir!" Callen said as his teacher called upon him again.

"The capital of Romania Mr. Callen?" his teacher repeated the question.

Callen shrugged, "Dunno. Ain't never been!" he replied looking around as some of his classmates laughed.

"Well if you hadn't been asleep…" the teacher said.

"' Wasn't asleep, it was strategic napping." Callen quipped and looked bored out of the window.

The teacher rolled his eyes at his newest student. He looked at the transcript, it was the boys first day, one semester 5 schools…"Keep this up Mr. Callen and you'll be thrown out of this school too." He snapped.

All eyes turned to the new kid, who grabbed his bag and stood up. He walked deliberately to the front of the class and dropped his bag on the teacher's desk keeping his hand on it.

"I have never been expelled from a school in my life…I quit!" he said he grabbed his bag and walked out of the classroom as the chairs moved and the students moved to watch him out the window.

The smirk on his face got wider the closer he got to the main door of the school and walked out towards an old Lincoln town car that sat out the front.

He opened the door and got in. "Time to move again?" he said to the woman in the front seat.

She nodded, "I was just coming to get you Callen." She said.

Callen looked at the social worker and grinned, "I know, I saw you pull up."

She sighed and looked at the kids crowding the window while the teacher tried to pull them back, "What did you do?" she asked,

"I quit school" he smiled. "On to the next?" he asked.

She smiled and nodded driving away from that one.

* * *

Stopping at an 'in and out' burger on the way to his next placement she picked up her new cellular phone while he went to the bathroom.

"Ms Lange…it's Agent Johnson, I picked up the child…you were right he is a handful, No…they hadn't found him yet, is it true they found the sister? Sorry Ma'am, yes I know I shouldn't have asked. No he still doesn't remember anything, still thinks his name is Callen the cover is intact." She looked as Callen walked out of the bathroom and over to a vending machine and ordered a soda.

"Yes I'm taking him to the next home on the list, I checked this guy out are you sure we should put him there, I mean the kid's only 12…Yes ma'am, I'll call you when he's placed." She said and hung up.

"Cool!" Callen said as he climbed back in the car, "Is that one of those Cellular phones…Can I see?" He asked. "Please Ms Johnson...?" he asked,

Alice Johnson smiled, sometimes she hated her job, "sure kid, just don't press any of the buttons." She said Callen sat in the back of the car pretending to be a big businessman as his lady chauffer drove him around.

For a second, Alice Johnson shivered, seeing the man Callen could have been if the CIA hadn't removed him from his family. She shook her head and kept driving.

"What?" Callen asked seeing the head shake.

She smiled, "There's no end to you G, you never cease to amaze me, you act so grown up, but every once in a while I see the kid."

Callen dropped the phone on the seat beside her, "No you don't." he crossed his arms and sulked looking out of the window. "I'm not a kid." He snapped.

"No…" she sighed realizing he was right, he was not a kid, he was a CIA asset, he just didn't know it, "No I guess you're not."

 


	2. Chapter 2

_**1975 - Black Sea, Romania** _

Ilena looked at her brother playing on the beach and ran off to get some shells for their sandcastle. "Laney!" G called, "We need big shells." She smiled at the confused looks on the faces of the other people around them knowing that not many people in this sector spoke English.

They thought it was their own magic language, Amy their mama had spoke it and they had heard a reel to reel recording of their mothers voice every night since they were born, she read them the same book every night, a British story about a doll called Noddy and his friend an elf called Big Ears. She would always finish the tape by saying "Goodnight and sleep tight, I love you my babies." Then they would hear a rustle and the tape would finish.

Papa told the twins that the rustle they heard was their mother's angel wings and that she had come down from heaven to leave that story for them.

The truth was Amy Comescu had discovered late in her pregnancy that she had pre-eclampsia a condition that caused high blood pressure in pregnant women and was dangerous, she had talked Gregori into buying a reel to reel recorder so she could tape stories for her babies, so she could read to them if anything happened to her.

The week before the babies were born Gregori had come home with the recorder and she had picked up her favorite Enid Blyton book and started reading.

Before she could record another she was dead, she had hemorrhaged in childbirth and died of the complications. Gregori had insisted that the children were played the tape every night, in the hope that both they and he himself would not forget her voice.

Ilena waved at her brother as he dug deeper and deeper into the sand with his spade, biting his lip in concentration. She turned to look for more shells when a hand clasped itself over her mouth.

She kicked and screamed until she realized it was Nikolai.

"You scared me," she said as she relaxed and he released his hand.

Nikolai smiled, "Come on Ilena, let's go and get ice cream for you and Gregori."

Ilena headed towards the blue and red cart in front of them.

"No wait, there is a new shop just across the road there," He pointed to the road that ran up alongside the beach. Ilena nodded and took his hand.

They stood at the road waiting to cross when a dark colored van pulled up in front of them, Nikolai put his hand over the child's mouth and put her inside the van and quickly sped off.

* * *

He turned around to see Garasovic running along the sand.

Garasovic sighed with relief as he saw Gregori and handed him a toy. Nikolai watched as the man singled out his partner and put a bullet in her head, quietly he snuck up behind Gregori and covering his mouth grabbed him off the beach, leaving the bucket spade and tin soldier lying where they fell.

Gregori was kicking he didn't like this, "Shh!" Nikolai spat, "Stop squirming."

Gregori stopped moving in shock, Nikolai knew their magic language!

As the second van pulled up Nikolai opened the door, Gregori realized he was being taken away and panicked, he kicked out again and as Nikolai tried to put him in the van, losing his hold on the boy Gregori hit his head on the door and was knocked out.

"You better not have killed him?" Agent Granger snapped looking at the boy, "He's the whole point of this operation."

Nikolai jumped in and checked him over, "Nope, he has a slight concussion maybe, but he'll be ok."

The van sped off to join another van at the airport.

Ilena was sitting with a woman who kept looking at her strangely. " _ **I want my baby brother**_." She said crying.

" _ **You two are twins,"**_  the woman snapped,

" _ **I am the biggest**_." Ilena insisted.

The woman looked at the clipboard, " _ **What is your name?"**_  she asked.

" _ **Laney**_." She said.

The woman wrote down, 'Amy.'

" _ **Sit in the back child."**_

" _ **I want to go home**_!" Ilena cried.

Five minutes later she looked up and wiped her eyes as Nikolai came up the steps and climbed onto the plane carrying Gregori.

"G!" Ilena called, she struggled as the woman from earlier put a chloroform cloth over her face until she passed out.

"So what is the boy's name…For when we arrive?" She asked,

Nikolai looked at him, "His sister said; it's G."

"That's not a name, it's a letter." The agent snapped at him.

Agent Granger sat next to her, "Agent Monroe, do you really want this boy looking up his name and finding out he's the missing son of Gregori Comescu?" he took the clipboard from her.

"Where is Agent Callen?" Agent Monroe asked.

"She didn't make it," Nikolai said sadly as he reached over and pulled the large door to the plane closed.

* * *

Agent Monroe sat back taking her clipboard back from Agent Granger, he had seniority but the paperwork was still her job.

"So, Owen, what are we to do with them?"

"A team will be organized to keep an eye on them growing up, we are to steer them into occupations that will keep them close and when it is time they will be told a modified version of their stories. Hopefully they will be the destruction of the Comescu regime."

Nikolai and Monroe slept most of the way back to the US, Granger sat watching the children. He was uncertain of this assignment from the beginning but Director Colby had listened to Clara Callen's explanation of the plan, Ok the idea had been that she and Agent Resnikov raise the children, but that obviously wasn't going to work now. He leant over and nudged Nikolai awake.

"Hey," he said quietly.

Nikolai looked tiredly at him, "What Owen?" he yawned.

"You were supposed to raise them with Clara, what are you going to do?" he asked.

Nikolai shrugged, "I don't know, I cannot raise them, I didn't want to Clara was my partner, it was her idea, I think maybe we should hide them in the system, I can keep an eye on the boy, he's the one I worry about the most, Ilena…she's more like her mother Amy. She will probably be just as sweet, but the boy…Gregori, he has his father's dark temper, and it is the only reason I agreed to go along with this plan."

"This is going to end badly." Owen said to himself watching the boy stir, "We didn't Chloroform the boy did we?" he asked.

Nikolai shook his head, "He hit his head as I was getting him into the van, he should be ok though."

Owen sighed and picked up the clipboard again, "So do we have papers for them?" he asked.

Nikolai nodded, "I have these, Clara made them." He said.

Owen looked over them, "Both children were to be Callen's?" he asked. "There are no first names on these."

Monroe opened a sleepy eye, "The girl said her name was Amy."

Nikolai looked surprised, "Amy was the mothers name…" he looked through the file on the Comescu's Amy Stevens, met Nikolai Comescu when she was employed as a nanny for Gregori Comescu's daughter Alexa, her mother died in 'suspicious' circumstances after an affair, we believe Gregori had her killed."

"Does she have any family; we can drop the kids off with?"

Monroe stretched and sat upright, "Amy Stevens' family comes from real old English money, when she married a criminal in Romania they disowned her. Her father Lord Simon Stevens knows about the children and about the plan, he's willing to take the girl, but doesn't want the boy. He'll be waiting at the airport to take her,"

The plane touched down at 2am, at a private airfield in Virginia. A large black Rolls Royce sat on the tarmac and a tall blond haired aristocrat got out of the car.

"Lord Stevens?" Agent Monroe asked carrying the sleeping girl; Owen was behind him holding the boy.

"It this them?" He asked curtly.

"Yes Sir, This is Ilena…" she stopped as Nikolai interrupted.

"You should just know her as Amy, we named her after your daughter, and her nickname is Laney so if she makes a mistake it will not be too noticeable."

"Are you sure you won't take the boy?" Owen asked.

"No. it looks too much like his father, I read Clara Callen's report. I won't take him, he's your responsibility." Simon took the sleeping child and placed her in the car.

He climbed in the back as the car drove away G's hand reached out towards his sister, "Laney…" he called in his sleep.

Owen looked sadly at the child, "Let's get him inside."

* * *

It was daylight when he woke up and he had no idea where he was, his head hurt and something was missing…something important.

"Mama?" He called rubbing his eyes.

"Hello?" A woman in white said as she shined a bright light in his eyes, "Good morning Mr. Callen?"

The boy looked at her confused.

"Your name is G. Callen, you are in a hospital in Virginia you were in an accident, I'm afraid your mommy and daddy were hurt, but a lady is coming to take you to a new home."

He burst into tears that must be what he was missing, he couldn't remember….laney? The name seemed right but maybe not, maybe it was a bear, he looked there should be a bear….something, something blue…the bear must have been called Laney, but it wasn't here.

A small woman knocked on the door, "Hello Mr. Callen." She said

He looked up his face still blank.

"You hit your head, you do not remember what happened?" she asked her funny accent making him tip his head in an enquiring pose.

She smiled, "We have you first foster home ready to take you, and you will meet your social worker soon."

" _ **Where am I?"**_

The woman stopped and looked at him, "You are in America Mr. Callen you must not use that language anymore, it is a bad language."

G looked at her in astonishment; he had never been told that his words were bad.

"What is my name?" he asked.

"We do not know, all we know is your name is G. Callen…we cannot find any relatives for you so you will go into foster care until you can take care of yourself."

G pulled the blanket up and stuck his thumb in his mouth his other hand searching for something…but it wasn't there.

* * *

_**1982- California** _

Agent Johnson dropped Callen outside his new house and he grabbed his bag and leant against the car.

"We have you place here for two weeks, maybe longer." She said, "Come on he is expecting you."

Grabbing his bag he walked up the path to the assigned home.

"Yeah?" a man opened the door.

"My names Johnson, Child services are you Mr. Davis?" she asked.

The man nodded, "This the kid?" he asked looking Callen up and down.

Callen gulped he knew this wasn't going to be a good placement.

"Yeah he's all yours, Callen I'll be by to pick you up on Monday to get you placed in your new school."

"No…wait…I…" he argued in vain as she turned to go.

Alice got in her car and drove as far as the stop sign on the corner watching as Mike Davis, known abuser, grabbed Callen by the neck and dragged him into the house. As the door slammed shut she sobbed.

Picking up the cell phone she called the number again, "I can't do this…he's just a kid."

"You know who he is, do you want him loose, this is a long term operation Agent Johnson, you are paid well if you can't handle it we have a vacancy in Siberia you can have." The voice on the other end said.

"No…It's fine I'll get him enrolled in school on Monday" she said.

Callen held his breath as Mike Davis slammed him up against the wall.

"So the whole weekend you're mine boy." He snarled as he locked the door.

Callen scanned the area for escape routes but he had learned quickly after his last two escape attempts that the foster carers were getting meaner and the houses harder for him to escape from.

He braced himself as he saw the hand rise up and clenched his teeth bracing them from the inside with his tongue as he was backhanded.

"Gonna teach you to toughen up boy, that's why you're here." Mike said. "I'm gonna make you scream, I love hearing little boys scream."

Callen glared at him and decided, there was no way in hell he was making a sound.

Four hours later, naked from the waist up, bleeding and bruised he was thrown with his bag onto a mattress in the corner of a small room. A bowl of soup and a roll were on the floor.

"Eat that and sleep, we start again in the morning." Mike snapped.

He slammed the door shut and bolted it from the outside.

Callen opened one bloodied and bruised eye. There were no windows the only light was through the wire-meshed panel at the top of the door. There was a pillow and a blanket on the mattress but nothing else.

He could smell the food and he was so hungry, he reached over and tasted a bit, it was bitter mixed with the blood in his mouth but he ate as best as he could. After all it might be the last meal he ever got.

He never made a sound as he ate, but the saltiness of his tears dampened down the bread, he finished his food curled up in the corner on the mattress and passed out.

Mike watched the kid through close circuit television, he had been surprised when he'd been told that child services were willingly dropping off a child with him, he knew he had been taken off of the list years ago for the abuse of the boys in his care, but they had all been wimps he had just been teaching them lift skills. Now he knew that Child services knew this and were giving him a chance with this boy.

He had tried to be a good foster parent, but boy's just pushed too much. Callen's look to him as Ms Johnson had driven away was proof that this kid needed to be brought into line; he was going to get it right this time though. He wasn't going to cross the line, but God Damn if that boy weren't purty.

He paced for an hour outside the boy's room as Callen slept. "No gonna do it, won't cross the line…" he muttered repeatedly, pacing back and forth.

"Damn It!" he swore and reached for the key on the wall by the door.

Outside a neighbor walking a dog shuddered as he heard an earsplitting scream.

* * *

Monday morning a broken, bruised and defeated Callen stood at the door as Alice pulled up.

"Good morning Callen did you have a nice weekend."

Callen didn't look at her, "Yes ma'am." He croaked out.

"What happened to you this weekend?" she asked noticing the bruises.

"Neighbor kids beat me ma'am. Mr. Davis was an excellent foster carer…I'd like to…S…S…Stay…please…" he asked shaking telling her everything he had been ordered to say.

Alice smiled, Mr. Davis had been everything that she had been told, she knew he'd get Callen into line. "Not right now we have another placement for you, but if you misbehave, I'm sure we can bring you back again."

Callen shot her a terrified look and then looked straight down.

"Thank you Ma'am…Thank you Mr.…Mr.…D…Davis for your hosp…hospitality," he said and froze as Davis put an arm around his shoulders and leaned into his ear.

"You did good kid I'm gonna miss you," he licked under Callen's ear with a small smirk as Callen jumped and tears rolled down his face.

"Come along Callen I don't have….."Alice started as Callen raced, limping past her and shot into the car. He didn't care where he was going right now anywhere was better than here.

* * *

_**1982 – Langley, Virginia.** _

Hetty looked over the latest report from Agent Johnson.

Callen was doing as well as she had expected.

The idea of driving his father's stubborn streak out of him was working; using Mike Davis had been a godsend. He had in one weekend straightened the boy up. She didn't really want to know what he did, but whatever it was it had worked.

According to Agent Johnson in the month since he'd spent the weekend with Davis, Callen now buckled down at his education, didn't play up at all and focused solely on his studies.

She had his life planned out and he had strayed from the path. He had started getting cocky and getting in with the wrong crowd, he needed to learn that other people controlled his life and that he would be guided in the way she needed him to be.

She picked up another report from the Asian office, Gregori Comescu had found her false lead and was currently tearing Asia apart looking for his children. Her plan in some was still on track, All Comescu business activities had been put on hold while Gregori Comescu searched the earth for his children.

She looked at the picture of the girl, she was coming along nicely, she was accomplished in art and literature, competent with a blade, Lord Stevens had made sure she received all the training she needed, he had changed her name to Grace and she was without a doubt following the plan she had made.

Lord Stevens had called her that very morning arranging her to foster Grace for a while, he had business in Romania and didn't want to raise suspicion by taking her with him, so he had told her of her aunt Hetty in America, she was to go there and learn how to ride western style and shoot. According to Simon, Grace was looking forward to the visit immensely she had called it her American Summer adventure holiday and had already packed twice.

She would be leaving in six weeks to spend three months with Hetty, The Director approved the time off and she found that she was looking forward to it as well.

* * *

_**1982 – Reseda California.** _

Callen sat in the back of the classroom of his latest school and in the back of his notebook he planned.

His latest foster parents were ok; they neglected him most of the time, the sort he preferred. He was fed up listening to the kids planning their summer vacations, and then he had a plan.

He needed a vacation from life.

Three months sun, sea, sands…no people…

The more he thought about it the more he liked the idea. Surviving in the wilderness, it had to be better and easier than surviving in foster care. He didn't even have to go far, just blend in on the streets, and disappear. It wasn't like anyone was really looking out for him or would care if he were gone.

He'd written his assignment out quickly. Recently he'd learned that they never spoke of Mike Davis if his grades were high and the threat of going back there diminished by the day.

He didn't want to get in trouble, but just once he wanted to be a kid, to walk along the beach for fun, play arcade games, go to a movie through the main door with a soda and popcorn and not get chased out.

He always got the urge to go to the beach in the summer and build a sandcastle. He had no idea why, he'd never been allowed to go to the beach and had never built one, sometimes he'd been in homes where the families had gone for a day at the beach, but he had been told to stay home, work on a project, he'd even been locked in his room once or twice. But today it was hot; a group of kids had been talking about hopping on a bus to go to the beach. He'd been finding lost pennies and nickels for months and was sure he had enough for a ticket.

He slipped out of school early and headed to the bus stop.

As he climbed onto the bus he noticed a black car following the man talking to himself.

Within moments of the bus pulling away red and blue flashing lights forced the bus to stop as two men with badges climbed onto the bus.

"Sorry folks we are after a runaway kid." The older of the two agents said.

Callen sank down in his seat.

"Come on Callen, you know better than that." Granger said as he looked down at the glowering boy.

"I just wanna see the beach." He snapped.

Granger looked down at him, he had grown a lot since he'd last seen him, He was muscular and lean, and he knew the boy could be trouble, but he had been told the boy would behave for the right phrase, "Just come with us, or we'll have to send you back to Davis." He had no idea what that meant but the boy stiffened up, grabbed his bag and walked off the bus without saying a word.

"That's good." Granger sighed; he thought he'd have trouble from the kid.

Callen shot a look at this cop, he knew not to play up now and he couldn't tell them to help him with Davis as this cop guy apparently already knew.

Callen sank to the ground by the man's car clutching his bag his only possession in the world and honestly just wished he were anywhere else but here.

Granger opened the door and Callen climbed in, "We have to take you home Callen." He said.

Callen shrugged, "Don't have one." He said.

"Where are you staying?" Granger asked.

Callen pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket with the address of his new home he'd been given that morning.

Granger looked at it nodded and drove the car.

"You know, it can't be that bad that you keep wanting to run away." Granger said to him.

Callen shrugged, "It can be." He said cryptically.

"Maybe things seem bad now son, but maybe you're destined for greatness."

Callen stopped listening dozing as the heat from the sun, hit the glass and warmed his face, as his hand, as it was wont to do over the years, reached out for something that he was missing.

 


	3. Chapter 3

Hetty had to work fast, Callen was finally leaving foster care, he was 18 years old, only twice had his father gotten close to finding him and he never knew, one time missing him by sheer minutes.

Callen was offered a choice of careers at school, but the one that grabbed him was the FBI, if he could join there then maybe he could find out something about himself he had been surprised when he had been handed a slip of paper with an appointment on the monday with the Director of the FBI but he'd taken it anyway, he didn't really care as long as it got him out of foster care.

He had grown from the cocky 12 year old that had been broken by Mike Davis into a street smart, distrustful 18 year old. He had more personas than an identity thief. He was a loner and he was happy with that. He walked to the appointment he'd been given by his leaving career advisor and case worker, who had told him that they had set him up with a small apartment and a job and he was to report there first thing on Monday morning.

He'd moved into the apartment on Saturday with the only things he owned. Two sets of clothes, a bed roll and two bags, one with Callen, G. Stenciled into it, and another with a notebook, pen, pencil…a small toy car and a bag of tootsie pops in it, his secret vice.

He took the last bag everywhere with him.

His apartment was a two room roach motel. It was damp dark and musty, roaches were running around the large room which contained a used… (Really used but maybe by a what rather than a who) bed, which he vowed never to sleep on…until he saw the roaches. Then he wasn't sure he wanted to use the floor either. The bathroom was even worse; he spent the whole of Saturday with a bucket and some cleaning supplies and set off a bug bomb before he left for work that day, sealing all his worldly goods inside two trash bags at the apartment door.

* * *

He stood outside the J. Edgar Hoover building, watching all the people in suits walk in and out.

"They can't be serious?" he said to himself, looking down at his long sleeved faded blue t-shirt, his worn jeans and his worn out sneakers.

He looked at the slip of paper again and sighed. This was uncomfortable and annoying but he had been through worse.

He was looked at by the security guard as he entered and knew the guard's eyes were following him all the way up to the reception desk.

"Callen, I have an appointment with Director Sessions." He said and waited to be thrown out on his ear.

Two men in suits walked over to him, "G. Callen?" the taller of the two men asked.

Callen took a defensive stance as he looked at them, "Yeah…who are you?" he asked warily

The older of the two men held out his hand. "Leonard Morgan," he said and stood there as Callen didn't move, he moved his hand into a sweeping arc introducing the other man, "Robert Dalkin."

"And?" Callen said, he'd already noted that both men were armed.

"Director Session sent us here to escort you up." The older man, Morgan said.

They walked over to the elevator, Callen moved past them and got in first so his back was to the wall and he was facing the doors.

William Session had been in this job just over a year when he'd gotten a call from his predecessor, who was now head of the CIA. He'd been informed of a CIA asset who didn't know he was actually and asset, but it would be a personal favor if the FBI could put him through FLETC and see if he had what it took to continue to be an agent, he was young…a lot younger than normal, but his tradecraft, though rough around the edges was practically perfect, It wasn't taught, it was naturally acquired.

He put down his phone having been told that the boy was on his way up; he looked at the file on his desk.

His file was an enigma, the kid didn't have a first name, and he didn't exist before he was five. He'd been brought up in a string of foster homes and most of his file was redacted and classified, with a note that no matter what classification G. Callen obtained he was under no circumstances to ever see the file on orders from POTUS.

His apprehension over hiring someone so young and on orders of the CIA no less, were tempered by the thought of actually wanting to meet the kid.

The doors to the elevator opened and he watched as his two agents walked out, but there was no sign of the boy. Both men stopped and moved, just before the doors closed the kid slipped out. He was smaller than Sessions had expected, but his eyes looked old, they reminded him of some of his Vietnam Veteran buddies, he watched as the kid scanned the area for perceived and hidden dangers.

With a nod he followed the two men until they reached his office.

* * *

Morgan knocked on the door.

"Sir, we have G. Callen for you." He said.

Session motioned for his agent to come inside. "What do you think about him?" he said watching the kid lean against a filing cabinet sizing up the other agents in the room.

"He's…he's a kid, why the heck is he here?"

"CIA wants us to train him as an agent, something about him being ready for a big case, the kid doesn't know but I've been told he's perfect for the mission."

"Really?"

"Len, look…we've been friends for years, if you don't want to do this I can find someone else, but you and Dalkin are the two that I trust not to spill anything to the kid."

"Fine Will, but you owe me, we'll train him and get him ready."

"They want him to cut his teeth on a case; he's being short-cutted through FLETC and trained mostly in the field."

Morgan sighed, "Fine, what case?"

"The Mike Davis case, we think this man abused and murdered up to 24 boys in his care, we want him to go undercover as a foster kid, help take him down,"

Callen moved from the filing cabinet and opened the door, "You are kidding me right?" he asked walking straight in.

"Mr. Callen, I'm William Session, Director of the FBI." He said standing up.

"No…I'm not doing it." Callen snapped.

"You don't know what we were saying this room is soundproofed.

Callen shrugged, "I am not going in with him."

"Mike Davis has been under surveillance for years, but we've never had any proof, we need to get a kid in there, you won't be in any danger."

"What do you know about this guy?" Callen stood as far away from them as he could get as Morgan opened the file he was handed.

"Between 1979 and 1982 boy's were being placed in his care, he had a high number of reported runaways but none of the boys were seen again." Morgan read, "Child services reported him to the police and took him off the register but no child was placed with him after January of 1982."

Callen laughed, "That's wrong."

"No…it says here, he was banned from fostering children in January 1982."

"I was placed with the asshole in August of '82, one weekend."

Morgan looked up at that, "Really?"

"No kid ran away from that place, there were no escape routes, old or new. He killed those kids, he has photos in his basement, and he takes pictures." Callen stopped talking.

"Ok kid, we didn't know we wanted to flush him out, if you tell us what you know we may be able to get him just on your testimony."

"It won't be enough." Callen snapped.

He sank into a large chair as he realized what he had to do, why he had been the one picked to go here. "Damn." He was beginning to think someone else was pulling the strings to his life. "Why did you guys pick me?" he asked suspiciously, "You say you never knew about me being with Davis, but I get a note asking me to come and see you, through my social worker?"

"It was passed down to us, from the former Director; he knew somehow, we were told you have the necessary skill set to bring him to justice." Sessions told him. "We are building a special task force and we needed some younger recruits."

Callen had to admit, he would like to have a hand in that as well. "Ok…I got nothing better right now, I'm in."

William Sessions smiled, "Good, good, you will have to undergo some rudimentary training. We have a couple of other agents your age right now, you can meet them if you wish, you train separately you will sleep on site while you train and you will not communicate with the other older agents, the whole point of this task force, and make no mistake you are part of a task force to bring down some serial killers who prey on underage kids, is that none of you really know the others."

Callen wasn't sure what he meant by that but nodded, "Agent Dalkin has been dispatched to your place of residence to pick up your belongings or some of them."

Callen looked up, "They are in 2 trash bags by the door, you should let him know there is a bug bomb in the apartment." He said.

* * *

Morgan led Callen into a room where 15 other kids about his age stood, all as wary as he was; he found his eyes drawn to one girl a blonde haired girl, who held herself royally. She looked at him and looked away quickly.

He stood next to her as they were lined up and found himself reaching for her hand. She gave a shy smile, he smiled back, "It'll be fine, names Callen," he said.

"Thanks, I was a bit scared," she whispered. she realized she hadn't told him her name.

"Stevens, Grace Stevens." She smiled back.

The kids lined up as their instructor went through the basics with them.

In a gallery a small woman stood with the director of the CIA, "That went well don't you think William, they don't seem to remember the other one at all."

"This could have all blown up in our faces Henrietta." He said looking at the twins standing side by side, neither knowing.

"It could be close though I mean look they are holding hands."

"Just two teenagers seeking comfort in a stressful situation, nothing more." Hetty said.

"The Comescu boy had better be all you say he is, or we will order the girl to kill him." He said watching as the kids walked up to the gym mats and began hand to hand drills.

Some of the kids were basic fighters, good enough to survive on the streets but with no real skill.

Len Morgan looked at his 'kid' and pointed to him and the girl next to him, "Callen. Steven's you're up."

They walked on to the mat and unbeknownst to them the two visitors in the observation room looked up with interest. Director Sessions walked in to join them.

"Ah yes, Callen, the new kid you asked for. Who's the girl?" he asked.

"Grace Stevens, one of mine…" Hetty said.

* * *

The two moved as if in tandem countering each other's blows. Grace seemed to know what moves Callen was going to make and Vice versa. The other students in the room stopped fighting and moved to watch them. It was like it was choreographed. It was in fact a thing of beauty, by the time they were finished they were covered in sweat and breathless.

"Draw…Callen, Stevens." Morgan announced.

They both fell back on to the mat laughing, he reached out and held her hand again helping her up after he had gotten up himself, "Nice work Stevens." He grinned.

"Thanks." She smiled and something inside him felt warmer.

* * *

Grace watched as this lean blond kid walked into the room, she felt a pull to him immediately and moved herself to stand next to him.

She was nervous, her aunt Hetty had suggested she come and join this group and her father had approved it. She'd been to America enough that she had developed a pretty good accent, she tried to blend in, some of the other kids there looked at her and could tell by the way she carried herself that she had money, a few snide comments had already ostracized her from the group. She stood at the back watching them.

"Line up recruits." The call came; she moved and found herself standing next to the boy who had intrigued her earlier.

She tried to wrap her arms around herself as they were inspected. Suddenly she felt a hand in hers. "It'll be fine, the names Callen" His voice whispered.

She felt the tension leave her, it was a strange sensation, as long as she could remember she hated to be touched, she had nightmares about being abused by people she had never met, which made her more alone and anxious about human contact. Hetty had told her that by participating in this she would learn much needed skills and she would hopefully be able to put some of her nightmares to rest by taking down serial abusers and killers.

She realized she hadn't answered him, "Stevens, Grace Stevens," she said looking into his eyes.

She didn't know what it was about this boy, but she trusted him, she instantly knew out of everyone in this building she could trust him, she felt safe with him.

She walked up to the mat as Morgan called her name, "It's ok." He whispered and she gave a small nod, she knew she could give it her all and it would be fine.

When the match finished she lay back on the mat getting her breath back as a hand swam into view, He smiled and she grabbed his hand as he helped her up.

She watched as he walked off to the showers. What did she feel for him, it wasn't the same as she felt for her boyfriend, Terry Scott was still and probably would always be the greatest love of her life. But this Callen…she just hoped she'd see him again.

 


	4. Chapter 4

Callen had passed basic training; he had found himself sitting with Grace Stevens every chance he got. The instructors kept an eye on them and regular reports got back to Hetty about how the training was progressing.

Hetty had worried about the closeness between the twins, but she had been told Stevens and Callen were no more than friends.

Hetty called Sessions late one night after reading the latest progress report on the project. "We need to move Callen into the field now." She told him.

"He's the best of them, but he's not fully trained. Sending him in on the Davis case may break him; he has the makings of a great Agent, Henrietta." William Sessions said.

"He's spending too much time with Stevens I need them separated now, he's learnt all he needs, and she needs a bit more."

Sessions paused and sat up more at his desk, "You're scared Hetty." He stated.

"I am…They are getting too close, Stevens is my back up card, if anything goes wrong, she needs to either kill him or take his place. "

"This is you're project you inherited it from Clara Callen, you know more about it than anyone, do you think the boy will go through with it?"

"After we've revealed his past…he'll hate the Comescu's as much as Clara did." Hetty said.

Sessions sighed, "I hope you're right, and I really hope he makes it past this assignment."

He put the phone down and stared at the file of Mike Davis that sat in front of him; this was not going to be an easy assignment for the boy.

The next morning Callen stood in Morgan's office leaning against the door as he looked through his papers.

"' You kicking me out of the program?" Callen asked nonchalantly as he saw his bag in the corner.

Morgan looked up surprised, "No, you're going in."

"Already?" he asked surprised.

"Davis has reapplied to be a foster carer again; we want to send you back in. it's been 6 years we don't think he'll remember you."

Callen gave a hollow laugh, "You think. We'll have to see then won't we?"

He walked over to his bag, "When do I leave?"

"After you've been issued your firearm." Morgan said and put a grey steel box on his desk.

"Sweet." Callen walked over to the box on Morgan's desk, he took out his gun, checked it, and loaded it, "Right, anyone coming in with me?"

"Not on this one, you have to do it alone."

"Not even back up?" Callen started to worry.

"Dalkin will be in a van down the treat as back up."

"Great," Callen grabbed his bag, "are we going?"

Morgan nodded, Callen never said anything and he steeled himself for the mission at hand, he wasn't going to feel anything, he didn't need to feel anything he would just take Davis down, he wouldn't even remember him.

"You're going in as Jerry Clarke. You'll be 15 and an orphan."

Callen laughed, "Well I won't have to fake that one."

"Dalkin is waiting in the lobby you'll meet him there, change out of your jump suit and into your regular clothes." Morgan ordered.

Callen took his bag and ran back to his room.

* * *

"Hey Callen?" Grace called jogging down the hallway, "Where you off to in a hurry?"

Callen grinned, "I got my first case Grace. I'm going out in the field. I get to take down the guy who made my life hell."

"Callen…is it safe?"

"Safe?" he looked confused. "Safe isn't an issue getting the job done is an issue."

Grace nodded, she knew this, "But I am worried about you, I'll miss you."

Callen shot her a grin, "We'll see each other sometime, I'm sure they'll make us work together, we make a great team."

She nodded, "yeah we do." She agreed.

She wrapped her arms around him in a hug, he relaxed in her embrace, "I don't get it no one else can make me feel as safe as you do."

"Shared type of upbringing Stevens, we understand each other." Callen surmised.

"Stay safe." She said in his ear.

Callen got changed and went to the van where Agent Dalkin was waiting for him.

"You took your time, got all your gear?" Dalkin asked.

"Most of it," Callen nodded, "but I don't think I'll be there long."

"I'll pick up the rest of your stuff, you won't be coming back, and you'll be moved onto your next assignment afterwards."

"But Grace…!" Callen protested.

"Aw…you going to miss your girlfriend." Dalkin teased.

"She wasn't my girlfriend, she's just my friend, and she was my best friend." Callen snapped.

"You're an Agent now, you don't need friends, you don't need family; you just do what it takes to get the job done." Dalkin said. Callen's programming kicked in and he nodded automatically.

"I'm ready." His face and voice went blank.

"Callen?" Dalkin said at the change in him.

"Clarke, Jerry Clarke." Callen corrected him, he changed the way he wore his jacket and messed up his hair a bit. "Drag me down there roughly; Davis likes his boys to have some fight in them."

Dalkin nodded, he wasn't a nasty man really, he had a teenage son of his own, "I'll have eyes on you at all times, if it gets rough I will get you out."

"No." Callen said, "Not until you get the evidence you need, I swear I will be the last kid ever to set foot near him." He vowed.

Dalkin had to admire the kid's resolve, "Ok. I'll park the van down the block; we have a car to use to get to Davis'"

* * *

An hour later they pulled up and swap cars, Callen threw his bag into the back, "Now you know I ain't coming quietly." Callen said.

Dalkin looked at him "What?"

"I don't care what kinda social worker you are I ain't going to no more foster homes."

Dalkin realized Callen was already in character, "Look Clarke, this is your last chance nowhere else would take you."

Dalkin pulled up outside the house, noticing the curtain twitch as he got there.

"Come on Clarke I haven't got all day." He opened the door and pulled the boy from the car.

Clarke dragged against the man, his struggle impassive until the door opened.

Try as he might even in this persona, the sight of Davis scared him and Callen's struggles became real.

"No…No….NO…you can't make me." His voice betrayed the fear he felt.

Dalkin was amazed, the boy was really good.

"Davis?" He asked holding tight to the struggling boy.

Davis looked down and then smiled, "yes sir,"

"This is Jerry Clarke, he's fifteen." Dalkin said holding tightly to the kid in his hand.

"Really?!" Davis said. "Come on in Jerry, we need to get acquainted." Davis grabbed the squirming boy from Dalkin's hand. "Don't worry I'll straighten him out, you picking him up on Monday?" he asked.

Callen stiffened as he flashed back to the last time.

"Yeah, 9am need to get his school sorted."

Davis smiled, "No problem."

He pulled the kid inside and closed the door.

"You coming Callen." Davis called from down the hall.

Callen froze his eyes widened, "Shit!" he swore.

Davis turned "You trying to get me into trouble boy…did you not think I'd remember the one that got away?"

Callen turned to run, Dalkin wasn't back at the van yet and he knew the van surveillance wouldn't be working yet.

By the time Dalkin reached the van and got everything thing switched on he jumped at the sight that met his eyes, the camera on Callen's bag was working properly and captured everything.

Callen was curled in a ball on the floor and Davis was kicking him in the ribs. His voice coming over the intercom perfectly.

"Who did you tell? Who is outside watching me?" Davis screamed.

"No…no one…." Callen cried, his breathing hitching with the pain in his ribs.

Davis grabbed him by the hair and moved him onto his knees, "Now you know better than that, how do you address me?" he snarled.

Callen sobbed, "No one Master, sorry sir."

Davis came into view as he knelt down and lifted Callen's head up and kissed his forehead, "So pretty, and I have missed you so much."

"I thought you would have others Master." Callen said preparing himself for the blow, which came next.

"Oh I did…" Davis boasted, "They were weak, they were never as strong as you are…see there?" he pointed to a row of small boxes.

"Yes…." Callen coughed, "Master."

"They are there…soon you will be there too, you were my strongest, my prettiest…but you left me…."

Callen smiled at him and Dalkins' blood ran cold.

"We've got it." He said into his cell phone "Send back up now."

On the other end of the line Len Morgan was already headed to his car with a team, "We're coming tell the kid to hold on."

"You hear that Callen they are coming." Dalkin said, not realizing that Callen's earwig was over by his bag. "Callen….Hold on they're coming."

* * *

Callen shivered as Davis came towards him with a knife.

"So that's it your just going to kill me?" Callen sounded disappointed.

Davis stopped.

"I went to all this trouble to get back to you master, I fought the system, they wouldn't let me back, I tried so hard, no one gave me what you did, you loved me master, please…Kill me later…let me spend one more day with you." He looked up his blue eyes shone with unshed tears, "love me one last day." He begged.

He knew he needed time for the FBI team to get there and he knew he was expendable so he went for it.

Davis' eyes shone as he lowered the knife, "One day can't hurt." He agreed.

Callen closed his eyes and for the first time in his life prayed.

Davis grabbed him by the hair and dragged him upstairs, for some reason Callen's thoughts kept straying to Grace, he hoped she was safe and happy, her face seemed to pop up in front of him, "Stay safe." He voice said.

Callen's eyes flew open as the door to his old room opened and he was flung inside. "Get ready for me boy." Davis said.

Callen backed away.

"Have you changed your mind?" Davis snarled walking towards him, "If you have tough, it's too late."

Davis walked towards him.

"Grace." Callen said softly as Davis hit him around the head.

A loud bang was heard downstairs, "What the hell!" Davis yelled and turned away.

"FBI FREEZE!" Dalkin yelled as he saw Davis from the bottom of the stairs.

 


	5. Chapter 5

Davis snarled at Dalkin and kicked the door between them shut.

Despite his training Callen couldn't help it he whimpered and tried to crawl away.

"You lied to me boy…" Davis snarled. He leveled his gun at Callen. "You don't even deserve to join my boys in the basement, I'm gonna kill you and throw you out with the trash."

Callen curled in a ball and covered his head, "No…" Again Grace's face came to mind, her last words to him floating through his brain like a comfort blanket, 'stay safe'.

He kicked out at Davis, whose shot went wide and shot Callen in the shoulder. He groaned as the pain washed over him and passed out as he heard two more gunshots.

Dalkin stood for a second looking at the body of Davis as Callen lay in the corner. "GET A MEDIC!" Dalkin yelled at the top of his voice to the men below who were already on their way to back him up.

"It's ok Callen; you're ok…stay with me." Dalkin repeated as he pressed on the bullet hole in his shoulder.

* * *

Callen slowly opened his eyes; he was warm, and comfortable. A feeling he like but knew never to get used to. He knew exactly where he was, Hospital.

A man in a brown suit sat in a chair watching him.

"So you're awake then?" He said dispassionately.

"Wh…" He started but his mouth was dry, he wet his lips, coughed and started again, "Who are you."

"Stanley, Simon Stanley…FBI Internal Affairs."

Callen looked over at him, "Internal Affairs?" he asked.

"I am here to ascertain what went wrong?" he asked.

"Wrong?" Callen tried to push himself up from the bed.

"Davis was supposed to stand trial, yet he's downstairs in the morgue, this was your first assignment right?" Stanley asked.

"Yeah."

"One of those kids on Sessions top secret team." Stanley asked.

"Obviously not that top secret." Callen snapped.

"Your job was to go into the house as Jerry Clarke a 15 year old orphan, you were to live with him for a few days, search the house and report back with your findings."

"Yeah." Callen didn't even look at him.

"So according to our information, you panicked as you approached the house, you gave the game away."

"No!" Callen snapped, "It was part of my cover."

"And how long did your cover last?" Stanley said snidely.

"Davis remembered me," Callen said, "I told them I'd been there before."

Stanley wrote in his file, "So you had a relationship with Davis."

"NO!" Callen snapped, he lifted himself to a sitting position, "No…" he said softer as he relaxed.

"We read the file, he insinuated he'd been….intimate with you, you differed and called him master, so some kind of Sub/Dom relationship that you failed to inform us about?"

Callen stared out the window, they had taken him down, he had found out what happened to the boys, his body was broken and sore, he had done all they had asked why were they pushing him?

"You are looking at Charges here Mr. Callen. The death of a suspect is a serious offence."

"I didn't kill him!" Callen argued, "He did this to me!"

"What did he do to you?" Stanley pushed.

"He beat me to a pulp and shot me in the shoulder."

"Collateral damage, you are an asset, it is your job to bring the criminal in alive, your life isn't important, just the lives of the people you swore to protect."

"I didn't." Callen sat up, cringing at the face he was wearing a hospital gown, "I didn't swear to protect anyone, pass me my pants." He said looking at the pile of bloodstained clothes next to Mr. Stanley.

"Those are evidence." Stanley said.

"Their mine." Callen said protectively

"not anymore."

Callen looked torn, he didn't own much and now half of the clothing he owned was being put into a plastic bag and getting sent away.

* * *

He slipped back onto the bed with a resigned sigh, "So…what's next." He asked, maybe they'd send him back to the training center.

"It's says here you will be meeting a new handler, the FBI cannot use you, but the CIA have requested you for a mission in Serbia."

"Serbia?" Callen looked surprised

"Your handler will be here soon. I just have a few more questions…Did you want Mr. Davis to die?" He asked watching the kids face.

"No…I wanted him to face trial, I wanted him to rot in prison, I wanted him to live and long and unhappy life and I wanted to be the one to put him there," Callen said honestly.

Stanley nodded, "Last question, I'm sorry…I have to ask it, but did Mr. Davis now or at any time in the past sexually abuse you."

"GET OUT!" Callen shouted… "Get your clipboard and get the fuck outta here!" he grabbed the jug of water beside the bed and threw it at the man who grabbed his stuff and stormed out.

Dalkin was down the hall and heard the commotion, "What the hell?" he swore and turned and ran down the corridor, Simon Stanley stood outside the room and wiped water off his jacket.

"Stupid boy doing a man's job," he snapped.

Dalkin pulled him up, "That boy did a great job and helped take down a serial killer."

"He threw a jug of water at me; I was only asking him questions." Stanley argued.

Dalkin grabbed the form, "What questions set him off?" He asked,

Stanley showed him the form.

"The last one." He said sadly.

Dalkin read down the form. "Dammit!" he cursed and looked at the man.

"Callen did everything as he was supposed to; we didn't think he'd recognized him after all those years. He put himself in harms way, faced his own fears so that no other kid would be sent to him, so that the kids who died, who had families would have closure to fine their loved ones." Dalkin argued.

"What about Callen, did his loved ones have any say in it?" Stanley asked as the door behind him opened.

"I don't have anyone." Callen snapped, he looked at Dalkin, "You got my clothes; I hear I'm needed in Siberia."

"Callen you need to heal."

"Bull, I'm fine, I aint bleeding and I aint dead, and If I die you'll have someone to take my place, right now I have to get the job done, so gimme my clothes." He snapped pulling the bag Dalkin offered out of his hand and slamming the door.

Stanley looked at Dalkin, "I'll make sure it goes in my report." He promised and left.

Dalkin opened the door and walked in, Callen was in the bathroom getting changed. He hadn't closed the door properly and Dalkin looked through the gap. He gasped quietly at the numerous scars and old burn marks on the kid's back. He'd talked to Callen's doctor discussing all the older breaks and fractures that had shown up in his x-rays he had managed to stop the doctor from reporting what to him were numerous cases of abuse. But until he saw the scars he'd had no idea how bad growing up could have been for this kid.

He heard Callen wince as he pulled the long sleeved t-shirt over his head and put his shoes on, he grabbed his wash stuff and put it back in his bag.

He walked with a slight limp over to the bed and eased himself onto it.

"You got me signed out yet?" Callen asked.

"You're not my responsibility any more Callen, your new handler is on the way." Dalkin said.

"Then why are you here?" Callen asked.

"I wanted to see if you were ok?" Dalkin asked, "Davis put you through a lot."

"So…what do you care, I did my job…and I did it well!" he stated stubbornly.

"Yeah you did kid, you did great." Dalkin said, "It was an honor working with you."

Callen smirked, "Sure it was."

Dalkin looked at him, "I have a son, he's eight, if he turns out anything like you I'll be proud." He said and turned and walked away.

Callen sat staring after him. He blinked back a few traitorous tears and waited for his new handler to turn up.

* * *

He sat unmoving for 20mins, then the door knocked.

"Agent Callen?" a woman looked around the corner.

Callen nodded once.

"I'm Agent Carter, your handler. I'm here to discharge you and escort you to your plane, where you will meet the other two members of your team." Callen stood up and picked up his bag hiding his pain.

"You are to be Dimitri Anatovich Lenkov, son of Anatoly Lenkov and Nadia Lenkov, you are to go with them as they move for Anatoly to take up his new job as foreman of a Russian oil pipeline, and your job is to provide cover and to get close to the Petrovitch family through the daughter Anya. She is 17 and impressionable, you are to use any and all means necessary to get her to let you into her family, he father has papers that prove that the Russians are selling drugs, weapons and other items to Eastern European crime families."

Callen nodded, looking at the file, "I'm going to need more stuff, Dimitri is a stuff kinda guy." He said.

"There are 3 suitcases of Dimitri's clothes in the back; also you have a walkman and a Russian American dictionary."

"I thought I was Russian?" Callen said confused.

Carter smiled, "You are American, and your parents are Russian, you were raised in America,"

Callen nodded, "Ok let's meet the parents." He said as the car pulled up at the Airport.

* * *

Leroy Jethro Gibbs, New NIS agent on his first undercover assignment sat in the Airport terminal with his new 'wife'. Still grieving over the loss of his real wife and daughter he had baulked when his boss, Mike Franks had volunteered him for this assignment just because he spoke Russian.

His wife was pretty enough, a redhead, thank God. Near his age and had nice blue eyes. She sat reading a magazine while they waited for the last member of their team an agent that looked young enough to play their son.

He looked up as the CIA car pulled up.

Agent Carter got out followed by a boy.

"Carter?" Gibbs asked confused, "I thought you were going to find a young Agent, this kid isn't old enough to join up."

"Agent Gibbs, Agent Johnson…My name is Callen." He said walking over to them.

Gibbs noticed he was injured.

"You alright?" he asked.

Callen moved away "I'm fine." He said, "I can do the job."

Gibbs looked at Carter for confirmation.

"Oh yeah, he can do the job alright." Carter said, She walked over out of Callen's earshot with Gibbs, "Don't sneak up on him, don't touch him, and don't trust him, it's in his files, Gibbs, you're a friend and I'm only telling you what I know, this kid is good, very good. He'll watch your back; he's been trained to die first if needed. But half his file is eyes only, I don't know what the powers that be are hiding, but I worry for you, you're a good friend."

"I'll watch out for the kid, don't worry." Gibbs promised.

Carter nodded and walked over to Callen. "Don't screw this up." She told him.

Callen glared at her and slunk over to his seat.

"Callen…" Gibbs sat next to him.

"I think you should just call me Dimitri don't you dad." Callen said with a slight Russian accent.

Gibbs nodded, "Very well Dimitri, do you need anything before we go." He asked realizing that he and Agent Johnson needed to get into character. "Nadia? Our son is hungry do you have any food for him?" Gibbs called across to his wife.

Emily Johnson nodded, "Da. I will go and fetch it." She replied.

"I don't need food dad." Callen argued; his stomach was unsettled.

"It will help with the painkillers and the antibiotics." Gibbs said.

"What antibiotics?" Callen asked.

Gibbs handed him a small plastic container. "Carter said you left these at the hospital, didn't tell me about your last case kid, but if you wanna talk."

"No." Callen said.

Gibbs gave him his pills and a drink and a curt nod, "I won't push, just so you know that if you need anything you can ask me."

Callen nodded, "Thanks." He said downing the pills, and for once he meant it.

 


	6. Chapter 6

Callen lay back in his seat the painkillers helping him sleep on the flight.

He jumped as Gibbs lay a gentle hand on his arm, "Dimitri, we are coming into land, you need to fasten your seatbelt son." He said softly in Russian.

For a split second, Callen looked confused but then his masks came up, "Ok Dad, Is that Moscow?" he asked looking out of the window as the airport loomed in the distance.

Gibbs smiled, "Yes, we will be getting a charter flight from there tomorrow, tonight we will stay in a hotel." He told his son, "Now pay attention to the instructions so you land safely."

Callen did up he seat belt and did as he was told exiting the plane and looked to all the world like a kid entering Russia for the first time with his parents, He stepped off of the plane and walked down the long walkway to the arrivals lounge following his parents, the size of the huge terminal at Moscow's main airport stunned him, he hadn't ever seen anything quite as big.

"Wow!" he breathed.

Gibbs put his hand on his shoulder and Callen stifled the automatic flinch, Dimitri didn't flinch from his parents.

"Dimi…Grab your bags." Anatoly ordered him.

"Yes papa." Dimitri replied and picked all three of his bags off of the carousel.

* * *

Arriving at the hotel, Callen kept up the persona until the doors were closed.

"Nadia, We'll take the large room and ….what's your name kid?" Gibbs asked.

"G." Callen said.

Gibbs looked at him but shrugged, "G you take the room down the hall."

"Ok." Callen went to carry all three of his bags.

"Let me help, you can't carry all of those." Gibbs went to take a bag, but Callen moved them out of his reach.

"I'm fine." He said and carried them into his room, dropping them as soon as the door was closed and collapsing onto the bed his eyes watering from the exertion.

The door knocked once and Gibbs walked in with Nadia, "Hey G….we were going to…" Gibbs stopped as he saw the pain on Callen's face.

"You alright? Have you taken your meds?" he asked concerned.

Callen ignored the pain and sat upright, "I'm fine…" his face masked "What was it you were going to do?" he asked biting the inside of his lip to keep from letting them know he hurt.

"Sure, kid you're not ready for this; you shouldn't be on this mission, what if you get hurt?"

Callen shrugged, "What if I get hurt?" he asked.

"You should be at university, living your life, getting a girl instead of running around strange countries, playing CIA." Gibbs started concerned for him.

"I ain't playing Agent Gibbs, I am damn good at my job and unlike you I am expendable, but I can't be at my best on those stupid pain killer drugs." Callen snapped.

"Ok!" Gibbs held up his hands to show the kid he was no threat, "At least take the antibiotics, we'll get you something to eat and then you can rest, they did put sleepwear in those bags for you didn't they?" he asked ushering Agent Johnson out.

Callen nodded, "Suppose so."

* * *

"You want a hand getting changed?" Gibbs asked.

"Why?" Callen was instantly on edge.

Gibbs looked startled, "It ain't like that kid, I just wanna help… Didn't your parents ever help you when you were sick?"

Callen shook his head, "Don't got any." He said.

"What about the people who care about you?" Gibbs asked,

"Like I said," Callen replied, "Ain't got any."

Gibbs looked at him shocked, "Wow, they trained you like that at the CIA?" he asked handing him a t-shirt to sleep in.

Callen carefully put it on discarding his other shirt and checking his own blood stained bandage.

"Na, foster care." He smirked.

Gibbs looked at him, he did seem really young, he thought back to his own daughter dead 3 years now, and he decided he would try during the mission to help the kid where possible. "We have a problem." Gibbs said.

Callen looked up interested, "We've been compromised?" he asked instantly focused on the mission.

"No, but to pull this off we are going to have to trust each other, so I'm going to tell you something about me that no one else knows. I am going to trust you to keep it to yourself; it will not compromise the mission or change anything, but if you want to tell me something - something no one else knows, I will keep it to myself. It's the start of real trust." Gibbs said.

Callen looked at him, trying to see if he was playing an angle, but he saw something he couldn't ever remember seeing in an adult's eye, truth.

* * *

Gibbs waited and Callen nodded, "Ok…you first." Callen said guardedly.

"I had a daughter, Kelly...She and my wife died when she was eight and I shot their killer a Mexican drug dealer called Hernandez." Gibbs said.

Callen blinked in surprise, "Wow…!" he breathed, and he wasn't sure what he had expected but this? This was not only giving him trust but the information could break the man and land him in jail, it was a huge amount of trust he had been handed.

He sat for a moment, there were so many things he could tell him, but he didn't think them worthy of telling.

Gibbs sat as he watched the young man go through the thoughts in his head.

"I have dreams…I speak differently in them…in a language I don't understand…and there I feel there is something missing – a part of me." He looked apologetically at Gibbs, "It's not much…" he sighed.

"Have you ever told anyone?" Gibbs asked.

Callen shook his head, "No one to tell." He said.

"Then it's enough." Gibbs said.

Callen gave him a look, usually when people wanted information out of him they wanted names, dates, places. But this guy he wanted to work with him and he was not pushing.

"Here…" Gibbs handed him his antibiotic, "Take these and get into bed."

Without thinking Callen climbed in the bed.

He froze as Gibbs leant over and pulled the covers over him Callen grabbed his wrist. "What are you doing?" he asked suspiciously.

"Tucking you in?"

"You what?" he asked confused.

Gibbs sighed, "Making sure you are covered up so you don't get cold." He told the younger man.

Callen gave a short nod, "Hey Gibbs…" he said as the older man turned to go, "Thank you." He turned so Gibbs wouldn't see the smile on his face he didn't want to push it, but that had been nice.

He felt drowsy and started to slip off to sleep, for the first time in ages feeling sleepy.

Gibbs watched as Callen curled up in a ball his hand reaching for something in his sleep.

"Night G." He said quietly.

"Te iubesc tată." Callen said in his sleep.

Gibbs watched him, to see if the kid was playing him, but he really was asleep.

He recognized the language, Romani. He made a mental note to keep that fact to himself for a while.

* * *

He walked out to the lounge where Nadia Johnson sat drinking a coffee and looking out over the view of Moscow, he stood behind her admiring the same view, "It's beautiful here isn't it Nadia." He said.

She smiled, "I was born here Jethro." She said with a laugh in her voice, "I must admit, that this was not the way I had expected our honeymoon to go, being sent on a case with a kid."

Jethro wrapped his arms around his wife,

"Did you tell the kid we were married?" she asked, "For real?"

Gibbs shook his head, "Kid's bright he'll figure it out. He's sleeping now."

Nadia looked towards his room, "He's so young, and to be this young and so cynical what did the CIA do to him?"

Gibbs shrugged, "He says it was being brought up in foster care, Nad…I know we have the case to solve, but I think, while we are on this case we should show him what a family is like, it may be good for him."

Nadia Johnson looked at her husband, "You've only been married once before, are you sure you can show him what it is like to be a parent, you don't have kids." She knew he'd been married, it said so on the certificate, and she knew his first wife died, but they'd had no children, so how could they pull it off, "Besides he's old enough to look after himself."

"I think he's been doing that his whole life," Gibbs said, "Rest now, we have a plane to catch in the morning." He said and moved to sit with her on the couch as the twinkling lights of Moscow mixed with the falling snow.

 


	7. Chapter 7

Before Gibbs was even awake that morning, Callen was up, dressed and he'd repacked ready for the next leg of the journey, he'd heard Nadia talk to Gibbs about the almost constant cup of coffee he kept with him and decided as a thank you for his gesture last night he would make coffee.

He carefully filled the jug and poured the coffee into the machine, it started and a sleepy eyed Gibbs made his way out of the bedroom only to stop and look at the sight before him on the small counter.

Callen was sat at the counter, the aroma of coffee filled the air and the hotel room's toaster was in pieces along the counter with Callen staring intently at a small part of it, listening to something on his walkman stereo.

Callen had looked at the clock 5 minutes ago, it was about 3am.

He was listening to the Russian on the walkman, repeating the phrases softly so he got them just right, when a hand landed gently on his shoulder.

He leapt about 6 feet and turned brandishing the screwdriver he had in his hand as a weapon.

"Getoffme." He snarled not even thinking.

Gibbs stepped back his hands up showing Callen he wasn't armed. "Hey…Kid…its ok!" Gibbs said gently.

Callen shook his head and turned, "Don't matter." He shrugged it off and turned back to the toaster, nodding towards the coffee machine, "Coffee's nearly ready." He said.

"It's nearly 04.30, what you doing up?" Gibbs asked.

"I don't sleep," Callen sighed as he grabbed a cup and helped himself to a large black coffee.

"I see that…and…the toaster?" Gibbs asked taking a sip of his own drink and raising an eyebrow.

"Triedtomakeyoubreakfastanditbroke." Callen mumbled quickly.

Gibbs looked over at the kid, "what was that?" he asked drinking his coffee to mask his grin.

"I wanted to…to…thank you for …ya know…what you did last night…I tried to make you breakfast…but it broke…I kept pressing it down and it wouldn't work." Callen said looking at his feet waiting for Gibbs to scream and hit him.

"Did you plug it in?" Gibbs asked looking at the plug which was hanging behind the counter.

Callen shook his head.

Gibbs got up and Callen took two steps back. Without looking at him, Gibbs put his coffee on the table and in his best Russian accent turned to Callen, "Well Dimi, we had better fix this before your mother wakes up don't you think?" he grinned.

Callen nodded, "Yes dad." He replied, trying and failing not to smile, despite his reservations there was something about this man he liked.

For the next hour Callen and Gibbs poured over the toaster, putting the pieces back together.

By the time Nadia got up they had made her breakfast and had the toaster in working order.

"Something smells nice," she smiled at them both before giving Gibbs a quick kiss, "Anatoly did you and Dmitri make me breakfast." She smiled.

"We did, sit down." Gibbs said and pulled out a chair as Callen brought the plate.

"Thank you." She said and sat down to eat as Callen and Gibbs ate theirs.

Gibbs watched Callen carefully, he played the perfect son, but didn't relax at all throughout the whole meal he cast glances at both Gibbs and Nadia making sure they were engrossed in what they were doing before he ate and he ate quickly, making sure that his food was safe from…well, anyone that would take it. He finished up and waited pushing a small piece of egg around on his plate so it didn't look like he was greedy.

"You want some more?" Gibbs asked moving towards his plate. Callen repressed the urge to flinch and just shook his head.

"I'm fine thanks dad." He said. He got up and practically fled to his room.

On shutting the door he sank to his knees, he needed to take a painkiller, only it wasn't his shoulder that hurt, it was his heart.

He really liked Gibbs, and this morning he had been upset to find himself daydreaming of what it would be like to have Gibbs as a father…an unbidden image of a dark haired man had popped into his head, he couldn't place it, he was sure he remembered all of his foster parents. But this image he associated with Gibbs, a kind and friendly man.

It hurt and he didn't like it.

He reached into his luggage and took out a bottle of water and two of his painkillers wiping angrily at his eyes as tears started to fall, it had been a long time since anyone had treated him like a person, never mind like a kid.

'Don't be silly G, it's just the mission. Gibbs doesn't care about you, tighten up.' He said quietly to himself. 'Anatoly is just concerned about Dmitri that's all; it's just a role, just fake…like you'

He stood up and took his bags out to the hallway.

"I'm ready," he told Anatoly and Nadia as they stood there with their bags.

* * *

As the plane touched down in Salihorsk in Belarus Callen grabbed his bag down and with his youthful grin jumped down the last few steps of the plane…. "Dad? There's nothing here!" he groaned

"Dmitri, you know we have to work here now, look there's my new boss, behave." He said to his son.

Anatoly walked down the stairs, "Help your mother with the bags, Dmitri." He called as his 'boss' asked him to do.

"Anatoly Lenkov. Welcome to Belarus," the large Russian man smiled as the family came down the stairs of the plane.

"Sergei Petrovitch…It is a pleasure to meet you," Gibbs said his Russian flawless. "This is my son Dmitri and my wife Nadia."

Sergei smiled, "It is good to meet you." He shook hands with Nadia, Dmitri hung back.

"Teenagers yes, my Anya is the same way. My wife has invited you to our home, your apartment is not ready yet so you will be staying with us for a week."

Anatoly smiled, "That will be nice, and it will do Dimi good to make some new friends."

Callen hung back being a typical teenager, he climbed in the car and listened.

"Anya has been staying with her friend in Romania, a family acquaintance, but she arrived home today. I hope you two will get on well,"

Dmitri nodded, but said nothing. Sergei smiled at Anatoly. "Ahh…" He laughed, "The innocence of youth."

Walking into the home of Sergei Petrovitch, Dmitri stood his mouth agape as he saw his mark.

Sergei smiled, he had hoped this would happen, it would make converting Lenkov to the darker side of his project a lot easier.

"Dmitri Lenkov, this is my daughter Anya Petrovitch." He said as his daughter came down the stairs her long blonde hair billowing out behind her, she was without a doubt the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen.

"Hi…" he choked out on seeing her.

She smiled, "I have been told you have been in America…tell me everything." She said and held out her hand.

Callen looked over at Gibbs who smiled approvingly. "Go Dimi, we will pack your things away."

"Thanks dad." He grinned and ran up the stairs after her.

"I met Anya's mother the same way," Sergei smiled, "Instant love."

"Great!" Gibbs sighed, "A love struck son…just what we need."

Inwardly he was happy, it would be a good cover to get information from the girl, and Callen was good having this plan in mind.

Callen had nothing in mind, he had never in his life had this feeling, he had butterflies in his stomach and his hands felt clammy…and…his pants felt tight. He looked down in horror and pulled his jumper down lower just in case.

He walked into Anya's room; she had posters of Michael Jackson on the wall.

"You like American music?" he asked.

She grinned, "Mikhail Jackson is the best do you not think?" she asked.

"Michael." He corrected her.

She smiled, moving closer… "Have you ever seen him?"

Callen shook his head; she sat on a chair near the window. He watched as she made a rolled cigarette, "What's that?"

She giggled, "I got it from my friend Alexa…Marijuana…" she took a long puff, "dinner will not be for four hours, try some."

Callen looked at her and considered it.

* * *

Three weeks into the operation, Nadia was spending time with Svetlana Petrovitch, Anatoly was at work with Sergei most of the day and Anya and Dmitri spent a huge amount of time together.

"Dimi…?" Anya said as she lay on her bed. Dmitri was leaning against the wall, the joint in his hand.

"Huh?" he asked.

"I…I think I like you a lot." She said turning to look at him.

Callen grinned, his eyes slightly glazed. "I like you too." He replied.

"What did you do to your shoulder?" Anya asked.

Dimi grinned, "I was shot, by a drug dealer...America is dangerous."

Anya's eyes widened, "You are so brave." she sighed

Dmitri grinned.

"Anya….Dimi?!" Nadia called upstairs,

They scrambled to put out the joint and opened the windows, stripping of their jumpers which smelled they ran to the top of the stairs. "Yes Mama?" Dimi called.

"Svetlana and I have been given a pass to a hotel and spa…we are going tonight, but your father called, They are staying in town tonight do you think that you two can look after yourselves for one night?" She asked.

Dmitri smiled, "Of course mama? Anything you need?" He asked his face totally innocent while Anya giggled.

"No we are good, we will see you tomorrow, do not let anyone in the house while we are gone," she told him.

Callen nodded. He understood the command, protect the asset.

* * *

They left and as Callen turned around Anya jumped on him and kissed him deeply.

For the next few hours all thoughts of the mission were gone from Callen's head as he made the transition from a boy to a man…this time voluntarily.

Lying on the bed with Anya naked in his arms he smiled, he loved her, but it ate at him that she didn't know his name. She couldn't know his name.

She groaned and turned kissing him, "Dimi…that was…perfect." She smiled.

He grinned, "Yeah it was."

She smiled, "I liked it when you told me you loved me while you slept, your Romani is very good."

Callen sat up and rubbed his eyes and looked at her.

"B…But…I don't speak Romanian?" he said confused.

"You did…Honest?" she looked confused.

"I did…maybe I learned it once and forgot." He said trying to shrug it off.

"er…Dmitri…we forgot something else as well." She said looking at them both.

"We forgot to use birth control, I'm not on contraception and you didn't use any."

Callen held her tightly, "Don't worry. You can't get pregnant the first time…I know that."

"You…you can't?" she asked.

Callen shook his head, every time he had asked kids in his foster placements they had all told him that, it had to be true didn't it?

* * *

The door downstairs slammed and both teens scrambled for their clothes, Anya having to quickly brush her hair as her father voice came from downstairs.

"Anatoly will be here later, Gregori, what is it that you had to fly here from Romania and pull me away from a meeting." He growled.

Gregori Comescu glowered at the man who worked for him, "I need to see your daughter Anya…she was doing drugs with my Alexa, I will not have that, she is the only child I have left."

Sergei called upstairs, "Dmitri, Anya…down here now!" he bellowed.

"Shit! We're busted." Dmitri snapped.

"I love you," Anya said and kissed him as the two teens moved to the top of the balcony to look down to the two men below.

"Hello papa." Anya smiled. "Uncle Gregori, it is nice to see you." She said holding onto Dmitri's hand.

 


	8. Chapter 8

Gibbs was checking in with the CIA handler, Hetty Lange.

"Hetty, it's all going according to plan, Sergei is letting us into his home and life and has let slip some names of his contacts."

"That is good and how is Mr. Callen working out?" she asked unable to keep the curiosity from his voice.

"Fine, had a few bumps with the kid, but he's doing his job really well. He's got Anya Petrovitch wrapped around his little finger." Gibbs said with a grin. "He's gotten some good information; Nadia is sending it on and encrypted Telex."

"Good I will wait for it, Where is Petrovitch now?" she asked.

"He has a guest staying with us for a few days, a close family friend."

"What do you have on him?" Hetty asked.

"Apart from his name nothing yet, I was hoping you'd check his name out for us, it's Gregori Comescu." He said.

"Where is Mr. Callen?" Hetty asked her voice suddenly harsh.

"He's with the Petrovitch girl, they are at the house."

"Get there now, scrub the operation and get Callen out, he must NOT meet with Comescu, it is important, The Comescu's have a blood feud with the Callen's, he will kill him." Hetty told her. "Find and excuse and leave, if you can't do it quietly just run."

She sat at her desk having hung up on Gibbs and dialed another number, "We need an immediate extraction in Belarus." She told the person on the other end.

Callen stood with Anya at the top of the balcony while she said hello to her uncle.

"Anya, Dmitri, come downstairs please." Sergei said.

They both walked down the stairs and Gregori held out his hand, "Dmitri…?"

"Lenkov." Callen smiled shaking hands.

The man's eyes were cold and sad, for some reason he felt the urge to hug him, but shook it off.

"Anya…were you doing drugs while with Alexa Comescu?"

Anya nodded, "I am sorry papa, Vasilie got us some pot, and it was only a little."

Sergei backhanded his daughter around the face, "You do not use drugs EVER do you hear me?" he yelled at her.

"I'm sorry papa." She cried as Dmitri picked her up.

Sergei softened at the sight of his only child, he hadn't meant to be so harsh and Gregori put a hand on his arm, "Sergei, children are precious, make the most of her being here, I lost my babies, you would not want to lose yours."

Sergei nodded, "You are right, come let us have a drink, Children, would you like some American soda, Gregori brought some with him."

Anya clapped and hugged her uncle, Callen nodded, "Thank you sir." He said politely.

* * *

Gregori gave both children a soda, Callen and Anya sat drinking as the adults talked.

"Any word on your children?" Sergei asked.

Gregori shook his head, "No…I am still following leads, I had heard they were in America, but I have lost the trail. I still miss them so much." He said his eyes filling with tears, "They would be Dmitri's age by now." He sighed sadly, watching Dmitri and Anya chatting in the other room.

Gregori stared at the boy, the way he moved and carried himself was so familiar, and it hurt to see. It could have been his son, the hair, the eyes…but he knew for a fact his son was somewhere in America,"

The door opened and Anatoly walked in, "Dmitri?" he called.

Callen jumped up, "Dad? I thought you were going to be away on business," he hugged him, maintaining his cover.

"Your mother called, she's feeling unwell, and we need to pick her up from the spa." Anatoly said.

"Toli!" Sergei called, "I want you to meet our longtime business associate and friend, Gregori Comescu."

Gibbs turned and looked at the man, standing instinctively between him and Callen. "Good to meet you."

"Likewise, you have a fine son." Gregori said, he didn't know why, maybe it was Dmitri's age, the way his eyes looked so, so much like his little boy's eyes, but so much sadder. But he didn't want to stop looking at him.

"Thank you, but we have to go and pick his mother up, Sergei we will leave you Nadia's car, so that Svetlana can get home." Gibbs smiled,

"Dmitri your bag." Anatoly said.

Callen gave him a questioning look, "But…?" he started he knew that meant bring his own personal bag, the one he never let out of his sight, it meant that they were not coming back. "Anya…come with me," he said indicating upstairs to get his bag.

She nodded and the teenagers ran upstairs, as soon as they were out of sight of the grownups Callen pulled her in for a searing kiss, "I love you, you know that." He said earnestly staring at her trying to remember every inch of her face.

Anya laughed "I know that."

"Do you love me?" he asked his face unfaltering but his eyes scared.

"I do, I will always love you." Anya said to him, "We will talk about it later when you get back." She smiled.

He kissed her deeply, "I love you." He said again and turned to leave as she sat on her bed with a smile on her face.

He walked down the stairs, "Papa, I'm ready." He grinned like nothing in the world was wrong when in reality his heart was being torn in two.

Anatoly said his goodbyes to Sergei, as Gregori took a phone call.

* * *

Climbing into the car Callen's face changed as they pulled away from the house.

"Damn Gibbs, what happened?" he snapped.

"Dunno, Hetty freaked at that Comescu guy, ordered us to get you out of there."

"Why, I had it sweet with Anya, she was showing me tons of stuff, even had a meet with her friends cousin Vasilie, he's a member of a mafia group." Callen sighed, "All that work."

"Work?" Gibbs smirked, "Didn't look like you were doing much working lover boy."

"Get Bent." Callen snapped back scowling out of the window at the countryside as they drove towards the town.

* * *

"Sergei, my men have some information for you, they intercepted an encrypted Telex, you have CIA in your midst," Comescu handed the man his brick sized cell phone.

"Sergei." He said and listened, "Tell me names and descriptions."

He took a pen and wrote three names on the list.

Agent Gibbs

Agent Johnson

Agent Callen.

He turned as Gregori snatched the paper up. "Callen?" he growled.

"Problem?" Sergei asked turning to him.

"Agent Callen took my children, I want in on this."

Sergei listened to the description of the three agents. "No!...No…that's not…Damn!" he slammed the phone down and turned to Gregori, "Agents Callen and Gibbs, they were here. The boy and the man." He snapped grabbing his gun and running to his car, Gregori on his heels.

"Her son…she had a son…the same age and she took my children I will kill every last Callen on the planet." Gregori snapped.

* * *

Nadia was waiting in the lobby of the hotel as the car pulled up, she walked briskly and climbed into the back seat.

"What happened Gibbs?" she asked.

"Hetty pulled the op, thinks we've been compromised," Gibbs told them both.

"Why?" Callen asked.

Gibbs shrugged, "I dunno, something about you…what did you do kid?"

"Nothing!" Callen exclaimed, "I was working my end fine." He snapped glaring at Gibbs, who for a second he saw a resemblance between the kid and Comescu in Petrovich's dining room, both had the same cold stare.

"So what now?" Nadia asked.

"There is a plane ready for us at the airport, he just head there now." Gibbs said turning for the airport and noticing the black BMW following them.

"You guys armed?" Gibbs asked.

The other two nodded and went for their weapons, "OK hold on." Gibbs said. He put his foot to the floor and drove at speed at the gates for the airport. The BMW keeping pace behind them.

Callen grabbed his bag and swung the strap over his head wincing as the bag cut into his barely healed shoulder wound.

Nadia was out first, followed by Gibbs and then Callen, they pulled their guns as Sergei fired through the window of his car and Gregori got out firing at Callen.

Callen fired back, turning as he did so, the weight of his bag making him lose his balance.

"G!" Gibbs yelled,

Nadia ran into the plane, but Gibbs ran down the steps and grabbed Callen, the gunfire had stopped, he didn't question why he just hauled the kid's ass onto the plane and shut the door as his last sight was Comescu running for the plane.

He looked out of the window to see Comescu slump onto the tarmac in tears.

"Geez…some guys take it hard when the good guys win." Gibbs smirked, "Ya did good kid." He said as Callen lay back and closed his eyes.

* * *

Gregori Comescu stopped firing as the older agent turned to the younger one and called him G.

Suddenly it all clicked into place, that wasn't Clara's son, it was his…he had shook his son's hand, he had been so close, that close and hadn't seen it…he'd pulled a gun and fired on his son, and he had lost him again.

The pain was too much to bear and he collapsed to his knees letting out a guttural howl as the plane with his son on board flew away to America.

 


	9. Chapter 9

It was freezing and Anya Petrovitch stood in Constanta's main railway terminal, shaking and holding her small bag, the only thing her father had allowed her to take with her as he threw her out of his house, life and family.

She had taken her savings and called Alexa, who had sent her a ticket to come as soon as possible.

She couldn't stop the tears that escaped, the same tears she cried everyday for the man whose name she didn't know.

Three months after Dmitri Lenkov had quickly disappeared from her life and left her with a distraught uncle and an irate father, she had discovered what Dmitri told her was not true. You could get pregnant the first time you had sex.

She had hid it for two months, but by the third month she couldn't hide her rapidly expanding waistline and he father had called her out over it. She had sobbed and pleaded when he had demanded she go to an abortionist as he dragged her in the center to the horror of everyone watching and demand she terminate the CIA Agent's spawn she screamed no and slapped her own father in the face. Within five minutes of her returning home he had stood at the door with an empty bag in his hand.

"Fill it, you have five minutes. Take only what is yours and leave my home." He said his face furious.

"Papa please, this is your grandchild." She begged.

He turned and looked away. "That is not my grandchild, you are not my daughter. My daughter would not put her own selfish needs over the family. Take what you own and get out." He thrust the bag into her hand as she ran sobbing up the stairs.

She stood twenty minutes later at a payphone in the center of town and rang the one person she hoped could help her.

"Alexa…it's Anya…I…I need help. I need somewhere to stay."

Alexa brought a ticket and had it wired to the station, two hours later she was sitting in a warm carriage, her hand over her belly as the train pasts through fields and countries until it pulled to a halt in the Constanta station.

* * *

She stepped off the train and flinched as her name was screamed.

"ANYA!"

For a second she looked around in fright until she saw her best friend and Uncle Gregori on the platform.

As she turned he stopped and a strange look crossed his face. Then he enveloped her in a hug.

"Come, let us get in the car and head home, then we can talk."

Anya nodded, and silently got in the car gripping Alexa's hand.

Ten minutes later they were sitting in the back kitchen, Helena Garasovic was sitting at the counter in the corner, finishing off the last of the year's pickling and listened, without listening to the conversation between the young girl and her 'uncle'.

"Uncle Gregori, thank you for helping me." She cried as Helena turned and put a glass of Kvass in her hand. "My father said I had to leave, that my child was CIA spawn and I had slept with the enemy. Dmitri was not like that, he loved me I know he loved me." She sobbed and Gregori moved his chair to sit beside her and handed her a tissue from the box Helena handed him.

"I know Gregori's heart my child, he truly did love you." Gregori said.

"His name was Dmitri Lenkov, uncle Gregori." She informed him feeling confused.

"No my child, the CIA stole him and his twin sister when they were five and brainwashed them, His real name is Gregori Comescu II, they stole his memories, his life and his family. They even took his name and gave him the name of his would be abductor; he's called G. Callen now." He said sadly.

"So…?" Anya said looking up, "Is this your grandchild?" she asked.

"This is my son's child and your child and I am your child's grandfather and I promise you I will do everything in my power to keep you both safe. As safe as I know my son would if he knew. I will find him and I promise you that one day you will be reunited. He vowed.

Anya looked up at him with hope filled eyes, "I hope so I really do, Uncle Gregori, I love him with all my heart." She sighed.

* * *

In Los Angeles, Callen opened the door of his motel room, sighed in annoyance and stepped back to let Gibbs enter.

"Why are you still here, shouldn't you be back on deployment Gunny?" he snarked.

Gibbs ignored the comment and walked in setting his own bag down. "You need me." He stated.

"The hell I do." Callen snapped and pulled a beer out of the fridge in the kitchenette.

"You're not 21 yet." Gibbs said taking the beer and pouring it down the sink.

"Hey!" Callen snapped.

"Drink this." He said placing a coffee in front of him.

Callen snatched the coffee and walked to the window taking in the twinkling lights from the Santa Monica pier in the distance.

"You fell for her didn't you?" Gibbs asked as he grabbed his own coffee from the container and stood behind him, giving him distance.

G said nothing and continued to stare out the window.

"It happens," Gibbs said softly, "You did good though." He continued.

"What?" Callen asked spinning around to face the man.

"You got us vital information, I'm not sure what it was but the powers that be were pleased."

"So I've been here 3 months as ordered, am I going on assignment with you or am I being sent back to the factory." He said using his own nickname for the various 3 letter agency's he worked for.

"I dunno kid I got a six month furlough so I thought I'd look you up…so kid?" Gibbs asked sinking into the one armchair there was, "Did you sleep with her."

Callen looked him up and down….a debrief?

"Who's asking you or the CIA?"

"Me." Gibbs replied

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." Gibbs affirmed.

"Yeah." Callen said softly answering his question.

"You did use protection didn't you?" Gibbs asked concerned.

"It's not so bad; you can't get a girl pregnant on your first time." Callen said and ducked his head realizing he had just admitted it was his first time with a girl.

Gibbs raised an eyebrow, "Who told you that?" he asked.

"Common knowledge." Callen replied.

Gibbs sighed, "No one ever taught you the facts of life kid?" he asked.

Callen laughed "I know the facts of life. If you don't duck fast enough the hit hurts more, if you wanna keep it you wear it, if it's really important you sleep with it. Never turn your back on an adult, those facts of life? Yeah Gibbs, those I know." He said.

"No kids the birds and the bees." Gibbs sighed.

"The what?!" Callen burst into laughter, "It wasn't a part of my training." He admitted.

"What about your foster parents?" Gibbs asked amazed the kid had made it to 18 and didn't know this.

G shrugged "Why would I need to learn about the birds and the bees, I'm an expendable asset, not a gardener."

"Expendable?" Gibbs asked shocked at the matter of fact way the kid had described himself.

"Sure," G shrugged non committally, "I got no one who cares whether I am alive or dead so I'm expendable."

"I care." Gibbs said looking him in the eye.

Callen shifted uncomfortably, "Why?"

"You remember what I told you about my wife and daughter?" Gibbs said.

Callen took a step back, "I won't tell Gibbs, honest…I promised, he tensed his shoulders up waiting for the blow."

"I felt like you do…" Callen looked at Gibbs in shock and relaxed a bit, "I felt I was expendable and it's and then I found someone who needed someone just as much as I did, it helps…maybe it'll help you." He said watching Callen's face.

Callen stood and looked away "You should go and be with them then," he said.

He blinked a few times but got ready for Gibbs to get up and walk out.

"I am with them."

"Sorry?" he was confused again.

"You kid,"

"Why?"

"Coz you need it."

"I don't need people and no one needs me, unless it's for a mission." Callen snapped.

"You need people Callen…you know you do…Anya? Whoever it is that you reach for with your hand when you are asleep?" Gibbs pushed.

"I don't." Callen deigned it.

"You do." Gibbs told him.

Callen's shoulders slumped. "I know I do but I don't know who I am reaching for Grace maybe…" he said more to himself than Gibbs.

"Grace? Girlfriend?" Gibbs asked.

"Stevens and no, she was at the factory with me, we are just friends, we are…were… close kinda we just clicked.

"But….you don't love her?" Gibbs asked.

"I love Anya…I loved Anya…with her it was like destiny, but Grace is just awesome, she gets me she makes me feel….safe." he said the last word so quietly Gibbs nearly didn't catch it.

"OK." As usual Gibbs took him at face value, never pushed never poked. G liked that.

"So…Birds and Bees?" Callen asked innocently.

* * *

Two hours later a thoroughly embarrassed Gibbs and Callen walked out of the motel room.

"Coffee?" Callen asked his face still read.

"Yeah and a burger, dunno about you kid but I could eat." Gibbs admitted.

Callen nodded, "there's a nice place about a block away," he said and walked off in that direction his hands shoved in his pockets.

Gibbs followed along grinning at the kid's still obvious embarrassment.

They slipped into a booth at the back and waited as the waitress took their order.

"So…Why did you decide to work for the CIA." Gibbs asked as Callen dipped his fries into his ketchup and took the tomato out of his burger and replaced it with Ketchup.

"What do you mean?" Callen asked.

"What would you like to do for a job?" Gibbs asked

Callen shrugged, "Whatever I'm assigned to next I suppose," he sighed, "I don't get to choose."

"How did you come to be in the CIA?" Gibbs asked intrigued.

"Social worker sent me, they had a meeting set up, told me I was to leave school and start work with them to help take down one of my ex foster parents."

Gibbs watched a strange look, fear, satisfaction and regret cross the younger man's face.

"What did you wanna do when you were a kid?" Gibbs asked.

Callen took a drink of his milkshake and looked out the window to the beach beyond, "Never really thought about it much, I wanted to be a policeman or a firefighter." He admitted. "What about you?" he asked.

"I wanted to be a Marine." Gibbs admitted.

"Wow you got assigned the job you wanted? Lucky!" G exclaimed.

"No…I wasn't assigned I went to a recruitment office." Gibbs said.

"You got to choose?" G put his fries on the plate his full attention on Gibbs.

"You never went to careers day at school?" Gibbs asked.

"Sure I walked into the office was handed the slip with my job on and told to report on Monday." Callen said.

Gibbs looked shocked he didn't know why but it seemed that the CIA had had this kid pegged from childhood, but he had no idea why.

"Listen, I have to go, book a room, sort some things out…you ever need anything you call me ok?" Gibbs said handing G a card.

"Yeah…thanks Gibbs." He said not turning the card over, he didn't want to embarrass his friend in public as the card turned out to be bogus.

Gibbs reached out and turned the card over, "My number is on there kid…use it." He said, "Even if your angry, or you can't sleep…call me and spare a toaster." He laughed.

Callen smiled "Thanks Gibbs."

* * *

Anya looked at the room Alexa had prepared for her.

It was large, sunny and with a bay window overlooking the beach and the black sea. There were two small dark wood cribs, sitting side to side in a warm but shaded part of the room and a picture of two small children in a frame above their heads There was a large double bed, with a warm yellow comforter over the bed and a small faded blue bunny on the pillows.

"This was Gregori and Ilena's room; father said it was only right you had it my sister, for the birth of your babies.

She had found out after a scan that she was having twins and Gregori and Alexa had been ecstatic for her.

She sat down softly on the bed; Alexa had moved all her things from the other room and unpacked in here for her. She picked up the faded blue bunny and breathed in its scent, it was warm and comforting.

"Was this his?" she asked.

Alexa picked the rabbit from her hands and held it tightly, tears in her eyes.

"It was his favorite, he called it Kita…he couldn't say Nikita." She said "He would walk around trailing that thing behind him, holding it by one ear and sucking his thumb with the other hand. Ilena had a pink one called Della and they would put the bunnies between them and snuggle together holding hands and sleeping listening to their mother reading stories."

"I thought Aunt Amy died in childbirth?" Anya said.

Alexa nodded, she walked to an old reel to reel tape recorder and pressed play and Amy's English lilt filled the room.

"I had always hoped they had at least been kept together, but you say he doesn't even know his name?" Alexa asked.

"He told me his name was Dmitri Lenkov; your father said he is called G Callen in America. They gave him the surname of the woman who took him and fed him lies." She said sadly.

"I will find him and bring him home to you and your babies, this I vow." Alexa swore.

Anya held a protective hand over the place where her children were growing.

Alexa sensed her friends apprehension and pulled her into a hug, "You will not be in this alone Anya, these children will be loved as much their father and aunt were and still are loved by us." She told Alexa who held her close as Anya burst into tears.

 


	10. Chapter 10

Hetty paled as she read the latest Intel from the Comescu compound.

Anya Petrovitch had gone to live with the Comescu's. Months passed and she was given information that jolted her to the core. Anya Petrovitch was, so the rumor went, carrying the children of Dmitri Lenkov…that didn't bother her, it was this latest Intel that had made her shudder, Anya Petrovitch had given birth to a boy and a girl.

The grandchildren of Gregori Comescu.

Little Gregori Comescu III and little Amilena Gigi Comescu, an amalgamation of Amy and Ilena this meant that Anya knew and if she knew, then it was a sure bet that Gregori Senior knew that G. Callen was Gregori Comescu II. Both children were healthy and fit and were accompanied everywhere by bodyguards, the Comescu's it seemed were under no illusions when it came to these children's safety.

Years had passed, Callen being moved from assignment to assignment, finally Hetty thought it was time for Callen to be brought closer to her, she arranged for him to join NCIS.

Working with a small team of agents, Sam Hanna, Mike Renko and a new Agent Kensi Blye; it was a small team based out of Los Angeles. Special Agent Lara Macy was in charge of the unit, she was a tough but fair woman, and Callen seemed, by all reports to be happy. Hetty's only concern was the fact that Callen was still living out of motel rooms.

* * *

Hetty looked up as Grace lay back on her sofa reading a book, she noticed with a smile it was the same book that Callen had been reading in the latest photo's she's had of him. It seemed that in some way the twins were still linked, so she had an idea.

"Grace?" she said looking up from her desk.

"Yes Aunt Hetty?" Grace said putting a bookmark in her book and looking up.

"Have you thought any more about buying a house?" Hetty prodded.

Grace smiled, "I have, I really want to buy myself not a house, but maybe an apartment, or at least a one floor home, I'm just not sure where…maybe near the sea," she looked thoughtful, "A home base between missions would be nice…Not that I don't appreciate you letting me stay here." She added quickly.

Hetty smiled, "I understand dear, maybe we can go house hunting, maybe something by the beach in Malibu." She suggested.

Grace grinned and grabbed her bag, "Ok…but only if we can go in your car," she said looking at the Shelby Cobra sitting across from the window in the garage."

Hetty smiled at her 'niece' "Oh Grace my dear, only for you am I such a pushover."

* * *

Sam looked up as Callen walked into the main computer room.

"Your late," he smiled as he walked past Eric and another computer Tech who was working on a set of computers.

Callen jogged down the stairs to join them.

"Couldn't sleep, noisy neighbors." Callen shrugged.

"You need to get an apartment." Sam sighed knowing he'd had this conversation before.

Callen shook his head, "Saving for something…" Callen said, then realized what he had let slip, "Need enough for a decent deposit on an apartment," he said quickly, "I don't wanna have to be limited by size or location because I don't have enough."

Sam nodded, "Smart move, when you get enough let me know I'll help you look, after all you don't wanna be pouring money down these rat hole motels when you can get your own house." He reasoned.

"Yeah," Callen said absently looking at the case notes on his desk.

Only one other person in the world knew what he was saving for, and where his spare money was going. He was and had been for the past 20 years looking for Anya. He had never gotten close to another woman, never fallen in love as he had never fallen out of love with her. He knew realistically she would probably be married now and have children of her own and maybe didn't even remember his cover name. But he loved her, only her, and he needed to know he needed to see her just once to find out, if she missed him as much as he missed her.

He went through the day; dealing with each case as it came in…he had gotten really good at compartmentalizing as Anya only occupied his thoughts at night. He spent his spare time practicing his Russian,if he felt really lonely he took a toaster apart to remind himself of the first time he spent with Gibbs, but his Russian was important, if nothing else he wanted to be able to tell Anya exactly how he felt and why he'd had to leave and if she was single he wanted to be able to beg to get her back and he didn't want a silly thing like language to come between them.

He went on like that for years, women would come and go, Sam would try and set him up on dates, he'd go, smile and be polite but make sure they all knew he was going home alone. He didn't mind he'd tell Sam that they'd baulked when they found out he had nowhere to live. Sometimes it was true, sometimes it wasn't.

* * *

He looked at the case currently in front of him, Operation Blackbird.

He walked into Macy's office throwing a file in front of her. "So…Who's the wise guy trying to find out about our operation?" he asked with a grimace.

"Us?" She sighed.

"Us?" he asked.

"NCIS Washington, it looks like our cases overlapped, they have Chandler."

"Is he talking?" Callen asked.

"He's dead," Macy told him, "Look Callen, we are continuing as planned, you will meet in the café with Talia and Renko will follow him, this doesn't change that."

"So we got suits from D.C. coming?" he asked.

She nodded, and looked away, "Two special agents, Gibbs and McGee."

Callen was thankful of his training at the fact he didn't react to the name.

"Ok…I'll be there, when are the suits getting in?" he asked.

"Later today," Macy said as Callen turned to go, "Be there Callen." She warned.

"Mace…when am I ever not there." He grinned looking totally innocent.

He walked out of her office and grabbed his cell phone from the cubby holes outside the Tech room.

Closing the cages to the elevator he lent against the wall, "Shit!" he swore, Gibbs was coming here. He hadn't seen him in a year, not since his last enforced leave. But he knew he needed to talk to him away from NCIS as there were questions that Gibbs would ask and then others would ask. He didn't need that.

So he went to the beach and waited, he needed to get his thoughts clear and he knew that the ocean and the sounds of the waves always seemed to calm him.

* * *

He lost track of time and before he knew it Gibbs was there.

He sat next to him on the bench not saying a word as usual just waiting.

"Still building that boat in your basement?" Callen said not turning towards him.

"Yeah." Gibbs replied

"The same one?" Callen asked.

Gibbs smiled, "No, no. A different one."

"Two boats. Three wives." Callen counted.

" ... Four wives." Gibbs told him.

Callen shrugged, "Did you see Mace?" he asked.

"Yeah, I saw her." Gibbs sighed.

"You have a long memory." Callen told him, reminding him about the secret they shared.

Gibbs finally turned to face him.

"So, how are you, Callen?" he asked visually checking him for any signs of injury.

"Not bad. Even Good Bordering on some days." Callen admitted.

"You still looking, huh?" Gibbs asked knowing about Callen's hunt for Anya Petrovitch.

"I'm still looking." He confirmed, "Is there a reason we're not meeting in a bar right now?" he asked to change the subject.

"Well, yeah, it's 10:00 in the morning." Gibbs grinned.

Callen got up and wiped his hands on his pants, "I do not know what's worse, getting older or getting wiser?" he admitted feeling his age.

Gibbs chuckled and followed him, Callen suddenly turned as he spotted a blonde girl on a bike and switched to Russian.

"I do not want excuses. You tell him he has until the end of the week."

Almost seamlessly as if they had been working together for years Gibbs replied, "What happens at the end of the week?"

"If he does not pay what he owes ..." He turned as if seeing the girl for the first time, he noted the pained expression on her face and switched to English with a Russian accent. "It was a good goal; the striker should never have been red-carded.

The girl shook her head sadly and rode off.

Gibbs turned and glared at him, "Might-have MENTIONED You Were undercover." He snapped.

"Well, I'm not." He admitted with a shrug, "Just for her. She lives across the street from me. Just got here from St. Petersburg. Lonely. Figure if she thinks I'm Russian Mafia, she will not want to make friends." He looked down as his phone rang and Macy's name popped up. He turned to Gibbs with a smirk, "Sometimes you get weeks to plan them, sometimes a day. Meeting an arms dealer named Talia. Does not trust anyone. I do not like our chances. Kind of like that first op in Serbia. You saved my ass on that one." He said remembering Gibbs pulling him into the plane.

"That was Moscow." Gibbs countered.

"No, no. My ass didn't need saving in Moscow. That was Petrov. Petrov's ass always needed saving." He said smiling at the memory of the small red headed Russian.

"Worked with some good people." Gibbs said.

"Yup. Made some good friends." He agreed remembering the night in the little café in red square in Leningrad with Petrov.

"Lost a few." Gibbs added and Callen nodded, Petrov was dead now, he was a great guy.

They stopped, shook hands and hugged briefly.

"Next time, we park in a bar. No more BOLO in the park." Callen said with a smirk.

"Next time…unless you've bought a house?" Gibbs said.

Callen shook his head, "Na still saving, I'm gonna find her Gibbs, I need to find her."

Gibbs nodded.

* * *

The op over, Callen got Sam to drop him at the corner

"Are you gonna get out?" Sam smirked at him.

Callen looked out of the windshield and shrugged, "I think it's time to move."

"Again? That's 3 times in the last 18 months." Sam said.

"It's 4." Callen admitted to his partner, "I don't know, I...I just feel like someone's watching me." He said, he had been worried a few times he had thought he was being followed.

"It's probably that Russian girl you told me about...You ever gonna settle down, G?" Sam asked.

Callen couldn't answer a sudden lump had come into his throat; he climbed out of the car and set off towards the room he was renting.

"One day." Sam laughed and G turned and waved then walked on.

Sam smiled at two girls in a red convertible as Callen stopped to assess the situation.

He looked to his left and saw the Russian girl; maybe Sam was right it was just her…but somehow. He shrugged and turned to go as he heard Sam's car rev up to go.

Sam swore as a van screeched past in front of him, "Crazy son of a..." Sam stopped as he noticed the van door was open and there was a man in there with an automatic weapon. Sam's blood ran cold and he jumped out of the car and started running towards his partner, "G!" he yelled.

Time seemed to stand still as the man fired and Callen's body jerked with all five impacts he landed on the fruit of a vendor behind him and slid slowly to the ground; the Russian girl looking horrified rode away. Sam ran up firing at the van, he turned and was stunned to find he was alive, "Come on, G. Come on, G. Stay with me." Sam held him and Callen opened his eyes but the pain is too much and he reaches his hand out for something and closes his eyes again fainting with the blood loss.

"Stay with me, G. Don't do this to me, come on!" Sam called to his partner and pulled his phone out, "Yeah, I need an ambulance. Ocean Front Road, Venice." He dropped the phone and turned to Callen, "Stay with me. Stay with me. Come on, buddy."

As the sun sets on the ocean and G doesn't move a man in a black car takes out a phone, "Alexa…I need to talk to Gregori, it's urgent." He said in a thick Romany accent.

 


	11. Chapter 11

"Dracul?" Gregori's voice came over the other end of the line. "Have you found him?"

"Uncle…I…I did…but…he's been shot…I…" Dracul stammered, he'd been searching every G. Callen in America and really thought this time he'd found the right man. He'd been following Callen for weeks, he worked in some kind of warehouse, and no one in the vicinity knew what the people in the building did. It was secretive enough for him to think this could be his cousin. He had spent the whole day waiting outside the building he thought Callen was staying in and had hoped to talk to him that evening.

To see his cousin slip away from his captors and then get shot and lie in the arms of the American people who had taken him galled him, but he couldn't get to him first.

"How bad?" Gregori's voice cracked as his vision started to blur.

"Bad…four maybe five shots to the chest." Dracul said sadly.

Gregori held the phone in his hand as all the blood drained from his face and his chest felt tight, he let out a sob and dropped the phone and slid slowly down the wall.

"Papa?!" Alexa cried as she and Ami walked in from the market.

"He's….He's…Gregori…he's …." He sobbed and turned grey and fainted.

Ami pulled out her cell phone and called an ambulance while Alexa caught up with what was happening.

"Dracul, stay close find out, I will go with papa to the hospital, I think he's had a heart attack."

"I will see what I can do, how is Ami?" he asked.

Alexa looked over at her niece, who was sobbing and cradling her grandfather's head, "We will be ok, keep an eye on my brother and keep me informed," she snapped. She placed the phone back on the receiver and turned to her father.

Ami looked up with tears in her bright blue eyes, "They are coming, he's breathing, but Aunt Alexa…I…I think he's dying…" she burst into tears as her brother ran in the door, "Ami?" Gregori yelled "Ami?"

"Over here…I'm fine, it's grandfather." She called he took a step towards them and the turned as the ambulance turned up.

Gregori held his sister tightly, "He will be ok…I know he will, where's mother?"

"She's still at the market." Ami told him, Anya had seen a new fabric shop she wanted to check out and Alexa and Ami had come home early on the bus and left her with the car in town.

Gregori looked at the two women, "Aunt Alexa, you go with Grandfather and we will wait for mother and let her know about him."

Alexa turned to Gregori, "I will, also you should know…your father…Dracul thinks he found him, but he was shot. Call your cousin and let him know about your grandfather he will let you know about your father, you understand this is a delicate situation?"

23 year old Gregori looked his aunt in the eyes, "You go with Grandfather, I will look after everything." He smiled.

Alexa smiled back, he was the spitting image of his father and from what they had learned he was just as strong.

She grabbed her bag hugged the twins and left in the ambulance with her father.

* * *

Callen recovered slowly, he was concerned that occasionally during his recovery he'd catch a glimpse of the same blond haired business man who would sit and just watch the road on a bench across from the rooming house he was staying in to recuperate and made a mental note to move as soon as his doctor cleared him for full duty, he didn't seem like a threat, but then again neither had the blonde girl on the bike, and since his shooting he hadn't seen her, so he was sure she was involved.

Gregori Comescu Senior had a stroke. He lived but was in a bad way, eventually he was stable enough to be released from the hospital. Anya took over his full time care at the house and Alexa took over the family business with Greg and Ami as her seconds. The twins were fair but firm, the family came first and no one crossed that line. Under the three of them the Comescu family business prospered.

* * *

Callen went back to work, now working directly under Hetty she was pleased to find he was where she could keep an eye on him. She had over the years managed to make him trust her. Giving him no idea about what she knew of his background.

She had kept tabs on the twins; the family had announced the death of Gregori Comescu and the ascension of Alexa as the head of the Comescu family.

She'd known of his urge to search for Anya Petrovitch, needing to curb that she had taken his savings under the guise of buying him a house and tying him into a mortgage, truth was she had already paid for the house and he was paying her three times what it was worth, to deplete his savings, but he did like the house to there was no question of him selling it and moving on, she knew it was the only other place he had felt loved and his ties to the house would be strong.

She would look from her desk at Callen, she had grown to care for him greatly, he had a way about him that had snuck under her defenses however she was not prepared to tell him the truth, and he was still needed. The Comescu Empire was still huge and the need for the head to be cut off the snake was still needed. Grace was herself still a great agent, but the plan had all along been for Callen to take out his elder sister, if a Comescu killed a Comescu; it was a family matter not a CIA problem, the fall out would be lessened. She shook her head as she thought to herself; Clara had had the right idea, then out of the two of them Clara had always been the smarter one. Hetty would have let it drop if it had been any other agent, but Clara Callen had been her cousin. The closest thing Hetty herself had had to family. There was indeed a Callen - Comescu feud, George Callen, Hetty's uncle had killed Gregori Comescu's father Vladimir. But Hetty herself she knew as tough as she was if she'd gone up against the Comescu's she'd be dead. But if the son of Gregori Comescu took out the head of the family, they couldn't tie it to her.

* * *

Hetty watched as Callen laughed with Sam, Kensi and her new find Detective Deeks. It seemed to be a good team, things were gelling well, and she'd even picked out her own replacement, a young Tech Analyst named Nell Jones. She looked to be promising but she wasn't ready to be let in on all Hetty's secrets yet.

Recently there had been a lot of chatter concerning the Comescu's in Romania, Hetty had kept an eye on it but when she heard that the Comescu twins and a cousin were due to fly into Los Angeles she knew she had to act. The first thing she did was download the Comescu file, well two, a fake one for Vance and a real one for herself.

She knew she had to fill Director Vance in on the situation so she cleared Eric and Nell out of Ops for a secure transmission with The Director.

Vance sat back in his office in secure mode and looked at his operations manager. "So Hetty, what is Operation Comescu?" he asked.

"It was a program started in the 1970's, The CIA were trying to wipe out a crime empire in Romania, they sold weapons and people to America's enemies an agent Clara Callen was sent in to stop them." Hetty said and waited as Vance connected the dots.

"Clara Callen…as in Agent Callen?" Vance asked.

Right there Hetty considered telling him the truth…but changed it slightly. "Yes, she is his mother, his father is Gregori Comescu." She told him.

"She…slept with her target?" Vance asked surprised.

"Not willingly." Hetty snapped implying that Gregori Comescu had raped her.

Vance looked shocked, "Does he know?"

Hetty shook her head, "We have kept him protected from the facts of his birth, and it would not be in his favor to learn that."

Vance nodded in shocked agreement.

"Why are we discussing this now?" He asked.

"They have discovered Mr. Callen's existence despite our attempts to keep him safe,"

"Has he been burned?" Vance asked worriedly.

"Not yet I can deal with this Leon, but you have to let me deal with it in my own way."

"I can give you 48 hours Hetty, but I do not want any of my agents compromised."

Hetty nodded her assent, "Very well, but you are not to inform Agent Callen of this."

She ended the call and went to her desk, "William, Henrietta, I need Grace for a mission."

* * *

Callen walked in, he had been trying to get hold of Hetty since 5am and was antsy that he couldn't find her Sam came in with his bag only to see Callen glaring at a tall dark haired woman sitting at Hetty's desk.

He looked up at Sam, "Did you try to call her?" He asked they had talked long into the night the day before about Hetty's uncharacteristic behavior.

"Three times. I got a voicemail twice, third time the line was busy." Sam said sitting down and looking over at the strange woman.

"That's probably me, leaving a message...six times." Callen told him.

"There's got to be more to this." Sam sighed; this was not like Hetty as just like Callen, Sam's gut was pinging off the reservation.

"Yeah. And she knows." Callen snapped glaring at the new woman.

Kensi and Deeks walked in and joined them, "Did you talk to Hetty?" Kensi asked as Nell and Eric joined them.

"She's not answering." Sam replied.

"You think she was pushed?" Deeks asked thinking maybe someone had fired her.

"It'd take a brave man to push Hetty." Sam remarked.

"Or an ambitious woman." Kensi said nodding a head towards the woman in the office.

Sam turned to Eric who was leaning against a pillar, "What do we know about her, Eric?"

Eric looked uncomfortable, "You seriously think that I'd misuse the entire resources of the Pentagon, Homeland Security and half a dozen other classified databases just to gather information on Senior Agent Hunter?" he said. Callen walked over to him and gave him an all knowing look.

"So she is an agent then?" Deeks said

"I didn't say that." Eric said quickly and looked around, "Okay, I did say that, but it was a calculated guess."

"Mm-hmm. Is there anything else you'd care to take a guess at?" Callen smirked, knowing Eric would fold.

"I'd guess that she's been on a classified assignment, maybe to some place like, I don't know...oh, say Murmansk. And then maybe, like, Warsaw."

"Keep guessing." Sam prompted

"I'd also guess that she's been off the grid for two years." Eric said.

"Three…" Nell interjected and coughed, "That's also just a guess."

"So who told her to take over for Hetty?" Sam asked.

"That would have had to have come from the top: Director Vance. But that really is a guess; not that everything else I just said wasn't a guess." Eric said quickly.

Callen turned and walked towards the new woman sitting at the desk.

"Where's he going?" Nell asked.

"I guess he's going to ask her." Sam grinned.

The all shifted position so that they could see what was about to happen.

* * *

Lauren Hunter was on the phone to William Simmons, she had been trying to get him to release Grace Stevens for the operation, but Hetty hadn't finished clearing the papers. She saw Callen walk over and finished up her conversation, "Yes, I have the authority."

Callen sighed angrily at her and she looked at him, "fine, you do that and get back to me." She said and slammed the phone down.

"So who are you?" He asked all his defenses on alert.

"I'm Miss Lange's replacement. She..."

"...did not retire. Not voluntarily." He insisted cutting her off.

"You were very close with her. I can understand your... confusion." She said trying to placate him, she had learned at a young age it was never good to anger a Comescu, and no matter what name he used, he was obviously a Comescu.

"Ah. Warsaw." He said looking at her key ring.

" _You've been to Poland recently?"_ he said in Polish

"W _arsaw, eight months. And before that…Murmansk."_ She replied in the same language

" _Murmansk?"_ He asked in Russian _, "Russia. I worked there. It's very very cold."_

" _Your Russian accent is very good."_ She replied in Russian

" _And your German?" She continued switching to German._

" _Germans usually mistake me for Austrian_ … _"_ Callen grinned then he switched to Italian, "… _and in Rome, they think I'm from the North."_

" _Milan, of course."_ Lauren replied in Italian and then switched to French testing him out and hopefully relaxing his guard before she could give him the last test, " _and what about in Paris?"_ She asked.

Callen smiled, " _in Paris, no matter how good your accent is, they ignore you_."

Lauren laughed, his guard was down, now she tried it, " _is it true…that you don't know what the "G" stands for?"_ She asked in Romani.

He looked confused, "Okay, you got me?" he asked.

She wasn't convinced he didn't speak Romani after all there had been reports of him occasionally slipping into his father's tongue.

"Hetty's gone, Agent Callen. She told me herself she's not coming back." She said moving into Agent mode.

"Well, she hasn't told me, and since she's not answering her phone..."

"Then she mustn't want to talk with you." Lauren surmised.

"You don't know Hetty." He said with conviction.

"On the contrary." Lauren countered and looked at the files on her desk dismissing him.

Callen turned to go, but then turned back, "Serbian?" he asked.

"Not Serbian." She told him and he walked away, he was still worried and he wasn't going to waste any more time with her.

"Agent Callen?" She called but he kept walking. "Agent Callen!" She called again, the others watched the interchange and she turned to Sam, "A word with you, Agent Hanna." She ordered.

Sam shot her a look and turned to follow his partner. Kensi smiles, the others nod approvingly

Lauren rolled her eyes, "Oh, crap!" she exclaimed and walked back into her office.

* * *

Gregori, Ami and Mikhail Comescu came into land at LAX.

"I hope we get to save him," Ami smiled as she grabbed her bag from the Carousel.

Greg looked at his sister, "You will go to the hotel and freshen up first, if we do get to meet our father, you don't want to go looking like that." He waved his arm up and down at her.

"Like what?!" Ami looked shocked.

"I have a man to meet little sister, you go with Mikhail to the room and I will be along later." Gregori said

Ami kissed her brother's cheek, "I will be good big brother, I will see you soon, good luck." She said and climbed into a taxi with her bodyguard as Greg climbed into another taxi.

* * *

Having looked for Hetty and come up empty, Callen stormed into the office and walked right up to Hunter, "You know what this is all about, now would be a really good time to tell us."

"You're asking the wrong person." Lauren said flatly.

"Oh, then who should I be asking?" He asked sarcastically.

"Me." Director Vance replied from the balcony, "Ops. Now. All of you."

The others moved up to Ops but the Director stopped Callen, "Agent Callen, tell me what you know."

Callen glared at him. "Well, I know that Hetty has disappeared, we just shot three guys searching her house, and I'm hoping to hell that you know more than that."

"I'm as shocked as you are that Hetty resigned. I flew out here to try to talk her into staying. I arrived to find that she'd already left."

"And her replacement?"

"That's Hetty's suggestion. Take my word for it; Agent Hunter is more than up to the task."

"What'd she say?" Callen asked.

"That she was tired. She'd had enough." Vance replied.

"You don't believe that." Callen scoffed.

"No. Neither do you, Agent Callen. What the hell has she gotten herself mixed up in?" Vance asked.

"I don't know. But whatever it is, I don't think she believes she can get out of it alive." Callen said worriedly.

They walked into Ops as the others stood ready.

"Latest please, Eric." Vance said.

"Running fingerprints and facial recognition, but still no positive I.D. on any of the shooters. That's all I got." Eric replied running on empty.

Vance turned to Eric and Nell, "Did Hetty ask either of you to do any off-the-book Intel gathering?" he asked.

"No, not lately." Nell replied confused

"No, nothing urgent." Eric told him.

"Any pending cases? Maybe she was out front on something." Sam suggested.

"We're not privy to any pending operations. We don't have access until Hetty gives it to us." Eric told them.

Vance walked over behind Eric and gave him a code, "Zulu-November-Tango…one-one-seven-nine.

The screen opened with a whole plethora of files.

"Check the sign-in log. Open the file Hetty accessed the most the last two weeks." Callen said.

Eric stops as it asks for a password,

"Open it." Vance ordered.

Eric's password didn't work so Vance typed his in and Eric swore, "Crap. We got a virus!" He exclaimed.

"Tell me that didn't just wipe out our entire database, Eric." Vance said sourly.

"No. We're good. It was localized to that file. It's probably a one-time virus that's, uh, activated to erase the next time you open the file." Eric sighed with relief.

"And the last name to access that file?" Vance asked.

"Hetty." Eric replied.

"Eric, what's the code name to the file?" Lauren asked.

"Operation Comescu." Eric said.

Lauren looked at Vance concerned.

"What's Comescu?" Callen asked.

Neither Vance nor Hunter answered him and walked out.

Callen and the others looked puzzled.

* * *

Lauren stormed into her office, "Did you know?" she told Vance.

"I found out recently." Vance replied, "And Callen doesn't know?"

"No…it's best that way, we need to keep this from him." Lauren said, "He says he doesn't know Romani so I don't know what he remembers, but I worry that he will remember, because Leon it may turn into a bloodbath."

"Yes the Feud." Vance said worried that Callen would go off to avenge his mother.

Lauren nodded; worried Callen would kill Hetty and go off at the CIA.

* * *

Vance walked off to find Sam, Kensi and Deeks surrounding Nell who was typing at the computer.

"Car was in the garage; maybe she got a rental." Deeks said about what Sam and Callen had found at Hetty's house.

"No, at least not in her name." Nell said looking at the monitor.

"Passport?" Sam asked.

"Mm. Nothing. If Hetty's outside of the country, she's traveling under an alias." Nell said and looked up as Vance stopped beside them

"Comescu operates out of Europe. If that's the case she's tracking, that's where she's gone." Vance said.

"Then to track her, I'll need to find out which alias she's traveling under."

"Miss Jones...for your eyes only." Vance said and the others walked off. "Access is limited to Hetty's documented aliases. No downloading, no printing, no copying. You report only to me. Understood?"

Nell nodded, "Got it."

"I back up critical files to my Sky Drive." Vance said

"Hmm. Smart. I.D. and password?" She asked.

Vance leaned over to type and then looked at Nell, "You don't have keystroke recognition software installed in this computer, do you, Miss Jones?" he asked

She pressed a key and switched it off, "Hmm. No, sir."

"I'm pleased to hear it." He typed his password in and a restricted Lange H. file came up, "Where's Hunter?" He asked

"Uh...I don't know. Bathroom?"

* * *

Callen stood outside the shooting range, looking at Hunter, he didn't need this now, he would have left NCIS already to find Anya if Hetty hadn't spent all his money on a damn house he'd have had enough to find her, instead he was looking for Hetty and having to deal with this…this…woman.

He watched as she shot the target badly and as she finished her set he went in.

"Don't get a lot of field work?" Callen asked.

"Not really known for my marksmanship." Lauren laughed; it would be good for him to think she couldn't shoot if he came after her it would give her an advantage.

"Well, you're not really known for much at all. In fact, no one that works here has ever heard of you." Callen said.

"Oh. Well...that's all right, 'cause I've never really heard of any of them. Except you." She poked again awaiting a response.

"And Hetty." Callen added.

"Yeah." Lauren sighed, "You don't like me."

"I don't know you." Callen replied.

"Whatever happened to first impressions?" Lauren asked hopefully.

"Usually unreliable. Except maybe in your case. Who's Comescu?" Callen asked again.

"That's a question for the director." Lauren prompted.

"Well, I'm asking you." Callen said.

Lauren loaded her gun and turned to him, "Hetty trusts me. She would not have recommended me to take over if she didn't. Doesn't that count for something?"

"It should count enough for you to tell me the truth. Who is Comescu?" Every time he said that name it felt familiar and it was annoying the hell out of him.

"I'm sorry, Callen." Lauren said and turned back to her target, "But I can't answer that."

Callen stormed out slamming the door and Lauren took aim again, all the bullets hit every target dead center.

Callen stormed over to Vance who was sitting at Hetty's desk.

"Who's Comescu?" Callen asked,

"That's classified, Agent Callen. You haven't been read in."

"Then read me in." Callen urged.

"I can't do that. Hetty trashed the file, remember?"

"You're telling me that was the only copy?" Callen asked incredulously.

"As far as I know, yes." Vance sat down and looked at him, "Now, its possible Hetty may have a backup, but you're gonna have to ask her that, once we track her down."

"Agent Hunter's read in?" Callen asked.

"She is." Vance confirmed.

"Great. I'll have her brief me." He said his voice suddenly full of hope.

"It's a thin file, Agent Callen. Its light on facts, it's heavy on speculation." Vance told him.

"Okay, then why exactly was Agent Hunter read in?" Callen pushed.

"Because she's specialized in linguistics. The decision was Hetty's, Agent Callen. She's highly regarded, and not just by this agency. You're gonna have to trust her. And you're gonna have to learn to work with her, fast, because if we don't find Hetty, what is now a temporary position, will become permanent."

Eric walked up to the pair of them. "Director, I've found him…It can wait." He said backtracking.

"No, it can't, Eric." Vance snapped.

"You found who?" Callen asked.

"Uh, the pro-team's booking agent. His name is Bernie Fischer. Photo and his current GPS location have just been uploaded."

"Sounds like we're done here, Agent Callen. Bring him in." Vance ordered.

* * *

At the boathouse Fischer is questioned by Callen and Sam, Sam sitting in the chair while Callen paced the room like a tiger making Fischer more and more nervous, finally Callen laid a set of photographs in front of the sweaty little man, of the men they had killed earlier in Hetty's house.

"Oh, my God! Why do they all look dead?" Fischer asked looking sick.

"Because we killed them." Sam said flatly.

"What do you wanna know? I'll tell you everything." Fischer cried pushing away the photos.

"What were they looking for?" Callen asked.

"A file. Probably on computer or one of them thumb drives." He replied shaking.

"What file?" Callen asked again.

"I only got a name. I got no idea what's on it, okay?" Fischer begged.

"What was the name of the file, Bernie?" Callen growled leaning towards him.

"Operation Comescu." Fischer said, as white as a sheet.

"What were the arrangements?" Callen asked.

"50 grand up front. I was supposed to call them when we got the file. Another 50 on delivery."

"Who called you?" Callen asked.

"The guy himself." Fischer said.

"What guy?" Callen asked again fighting the urge to paste the slime ball up against the wall.

"Gregori Comescu." Fischer said, "Only he didn't call. We met. Over coffee."

"Comescu is here in Los Angeles?" He asked.

"Yeah. Honest to God, I am not lying." Fischer promised.

Callen gathered up the file and walked out.

* * *

Standing in OSP they looked at the small amount that was available on the Comescu file.

"Hetty must have found out Comescu was looking for this file." Sam said

"Explains why she planted the virus in it." Kensi reasoned.

"Trying to stay one step ahead." Sam agreed.

"We've got Comescu's number. He's expecting a call. Simple plan: we offer him what he wants." Callen said.

"The file." Deeks clarified.

"I'll pose as a member of the pro-team; tell him we're cutting Bernie out of the deal." Callen said.

"He makes the meet, we grab him."

"Any chance Bernie Fischer is lying?"

"No!"

"Uh-uh."

"Nope."

"Nah." They replied all at the same time.

Vance smiled at the reaction, "Well, glad to see you all share the same view. Don't mess it up."

The others left the room and Callen whirled on Vance and Hunter.

"The only Intel we have on Gregori Comescu are some blurry surveillance photos from Interpol and a Police Nationale file from Paris, linking him to people smuggling in Poland. Hetty must have known more. Why else would she be tracking this?" he asked.

"I'm acutely aware of that fact, Agent Callen." Vance snapped.

"So brief me on Operation Comescu." Callen tried again.

Vance turned cold and looked at Lauren, "Agent Hunter, does Agent Callen have the information he needs to proceed?"

"Yes, Director." She said looking at him coldly.

"Then that's all the information you need to know, Agent Callen."

Callen stares at them annoyed, but realizing they aren't going to say anything he turns to walk off.

"And Agent Callen...I'll be the one interviewing Comescu when you bring him in." He called after him as Callen stormed down the stairs. Vance turned to Lauren, "Any chance that Hetty's analysis is wrong?" he asked worried.

"No, Hetty didn't get it wrong." Lauren said. Hetty had found out that Comescu senior was alive; there was no way she was wrong she just needed to get in there to find out.

* * *

Callen stood on Broadway Street, waiting with a coffee in one hand flicking through a newspaper looking at what was going on more than what he was reading.

"In position, Sam." Callen said.

"Deeks, heads up. He's out there somewhere." Sam warned.

"Roger that, Sam." Deeks said from his position at reading a magazine while Kensi was listening to music.

"Eric, picture up?" Sam asked.

In Ops Lauren, Eric and Vance were watching through 4 cameras.

"Picture's up, Sam." Eric told him.

Callen started as a kid with a skateboard came up to him and handed him a piece of paper.

"Hey, um, some guy, he gave me ten bucks to give you this." The kid said.

"What guy?" Callen asked but the boy had already gone.

"Something's up. Hold your position." Sam said as Callen read the note.

"Meeting's changed, Sam. Rooftop across the street." Callen told him.

"G, this is not a good idea. We don't have rooftop cover." Sam called as Callen ran across the street, "G, are you reading me?"

"Why is he moving from the street to a rooftop?" Deeks asked.

"Secluded, no one else. He wants to make sure he's alone." Kensi replied.

"That cuts both ways, leaves Comescu exposed as well." Deeks said looking up,

"He'll have backup. At least one guy with him. Plus high cover." He looked up at the building on his left. "The high-rise behind you overlooks the rooftop. That's where I'd be. Kensi, Deeks, check it."

Vance and Lauren gave each other worried looks.

* * *

As Sam starts climbing the stairs, Callen has already reached the rooftop, Mikhail Comescu is already there as Gregori and Ami watch from a rooftop on the right close enough to see but not to be seen, they were both surprised to see their father turn up to the meet.

"I like rooftops. You can be alone. You can enjoy the view. You can smoke. You can throw people off. You like rooftops?" Mikhail asked.

"Not particularly. You got my money?" Callen asked.

"You have my file?" Mikhail asked, he knew the twins would want the information as soon as possible.

"Eric, you're going to have to be my eyes. First sign of trouble, you understand?" Sam said standing behind the door.

"You got it, Sam." Eric said.

"They tell us there might be a woman in the house. She wasn't there." He said adopting his Dmitri Lenkov persona.

"You were fortunate. I know others who were not. The file?" Mikhail asked.

"This woman- you say she's causing you problems?" Callen asked

"Not for much longer." Mikhail admitted, soon they would find Gregori and his children would take him home and the woman would not be a problem again.

"You want to tell us where she is, we could take care of her for you." Callen offered.

"Not necessary. We have her." Mikhail said and opened his case taking out a laptop he plugged in the thumb drive Callen handed him.

On the left roof a CIA sniper is watching the exchange ready to take Callen out.

Mikhail looked at the computer, "This file says it is empty?" he asked angrily, so close again.

"Federal agents!" Kensi yelled and shot the sniper.

Over to the left Greg couldn't hold it anymore he knew his father was in danger. "Gregori!" he yelled.

"Sam, second shooter. Go!" Eric yelled.

Comescu grabbed his gun as he suddenly realized who was there and he moved to look for the shooter. Sam came out of the doorway and shot Mikhail, as a woman's scream pierced the air.

Greg grabbed his sister and ran. "Another time, little sister, come on."

Callen and Sam looked down at the body on the rooftop.

"Kensi, Deeks, what's your status?" Sam asks

"We're good. One down." Kensi replied.

"Eric, tell Director Vance Comescu's dead." Callen said.

"He, um...knows." Eric said nervously as Hunter and Vance left OSP.

* * *

Half an hour later they arrived back at the mission.

Callen strode up to Vance's desk, "Comescu's people have Hetty." He said grimly.

"Yeah, I heard. We'll find her. I'm putting the team on it." Vance said.

"You have a team?" Callen argued.

"Not in Prague, I don't." Vance snapped.

"How long have you known she's been in Prague?" Callen asked annoyed.

"Miss Jones just told me." Vance said, Callen looked to Nell for confirmation and she nodded.

"I need a ticket on the next available flight." Callen said stubbornly.

"Not necessary. I'll send a team from the field office in Paris."

"Oh, that's great. They can pick me up when I land in Prague." Callen stubbornly pushed.

"You're not going to Prague." Vance ordered Callen looked confused.

"I speak Czech, I speak Romanian, I have contacts in Prague that can help us." He argued.

"You are no longer on this case, Agent Callen!" Vance yelled

"Then give me a reason! Tell me why! What is Operation Comescu about?"

"It's about  _you_ , Agent Callen. Operation Comescu is all about you." Vance snapped, as Callen stepped back amazed.

 


	12. Chapter 12

Callen stared at him in shock.

"Operation Comescu is an ongoing investigation into a Romanian crime family. You dream up the worst pain and suffering a man can inflict on another man or woman, Comescu family's done worse. They've done  _much_  worse. I don't have to ask you if you remember Dobrashin Garasovic, do I?"

Callen blinked, he had flashbacks to the man he had found in his house with his throat cut, but the name…Dobrashin…again a flashback of a smiling man in a warm colored kitchen. He shook the images away and focused on Vance.

"Garasovic was Romani. Just like the Comescu's. He was trying to contact you. He was trying to warn you." Vance said. Lauren shifted her stance shooting a worried glance at Vance and then Callen.

"Warn me about what?" Callen asked confused

"That's what Hetty's trying to find out. That's what she was working on. Operation Comescu is hers and hers alone." Vance told him.

"She found out...?" Callen asked.

"The Comescu Family wants you dead, Agent Callen." Vance said and Lauren relaxed, Vance only knew the cover story until then she wasn't sure. Callen looked at Vance in astonishment.

"Why?" Sam asked

"Some sort of long-running family feud, as far as we can tell." Vance said

"I don't have...any family?" Callen said, Vance looked at him hoping Callen could put the pieces together, Lauren looked hoping that he wouldn't.

"They think I do?" He asked and Vance nodded.

"They probably mistake you for somebody else." Vance reasoned.

"Probably; Hetty was trying to protect me." Callen said

"And that's why you can't go to Prague." Vance told him flatly.

"That is why... I have to go to Prague." Callen argued back, if Hetty was putting herself on the line for him, he needed to be there, he was expendable to the team she was not.

"Hetty has resigned her position. She's operating outside of the authority of this agency. We will send a team from Paris. We'll find her, we'll try to bring her back, we'll try to get her the hell out of there, and you will not...you will  _not_  be a part of that team." Vance ordered.

Callen glared at him, how could Vance not realize that this was what he had been trained for, to exchange his life to save more worthy agents, he knew he couldn't argue. So he gave Vance his badge and his gun and placed them in front of an astonished Vance, He didn't even give his teammates a second glance; he couldn't to see the look of disappointment on their faces would have hurt too much. So he turned and walked out.

Sam within seconds followed suit, dropping his own badge and gun on the table and then followed his partner out.

Kensi glared Vance in the eyes and dared him to try and stop her, which he didn't and she followed Sam and Callen out.

Deeks hadn't moved, he'd watched the whole exchange leaning against the post at the corner of Hetty's office. He just pushed himself away, gave Hunter a curious look and turned to Vance.

"I would if I could." He said, being LAPD he couldn't quit to an NCIS boss, but he knew this was probably going to lose him his job anyway, but this was to help Hetty and it was worth it.

"Yes, you would, Detective." Vance said sincerely. In all truth he admired the man; he had no real allegiance to Hetty, not like the others.

"Prague's a big city. They won't even know where to start looking." Lauren told Vance.

"I, uh... automatically uploaded all of the Prague addresses and information into the system. It's already on their cell phones. I'm sorry." Nell told them looking abashed, although the truth was she was hoping they would find Hetty and get her home safely.

"Find her, Agent Hunter. Before they all get killed." Vance ordered, he knew if anyone could find Hetty faster it would be her.

* * *

Prague, was cold, it was dark and raining. In a van on a street corner, four people sat waiting.

Deeks and Kensi were in the back of the Van, Deeks squatting on his heels as Kensi leaned over to look through the window at the house they were staking out.

"You going to keep doing that?" Deeks asked,

"I hate buying guns on the black market. Don't know where they've been, when they were last cleaned, or by whom." Sam groused.

" _You_  cleaned it this morning." Kensi grinned.

"Twice!" Deeks exclaimed.

"This cheap ammo's going to jam." Sam moaned.

Callen sighed, "You didn't have to come, you know." He still, for the life of him, couldn't understand why they were there.

"Yet here we are." Sam deadpanned with a serious look on his face.

Callen looked at Sam and Sam nodded, he was Callen's partner and he would have his back all the way. Callen nodded back an unspoken agreement to be there for each other. With the only exception of Gibbs, Callen had never had this kind of friendship…well there was Grace, he still thought about her, but he'd never been able to find her.

"Okay, let's do this. This time, leave at least one of them alive, will you?" He joked about the fiasco on the rooftop in Los Angeles, but he smiled as he said it so they knew he wasn't really mad.

"Then don't make me have to save your sorry ass again." Sam replied and they left the van and headed towards the house.

Sam kicked the front door open, the men inside surprised shouted and fired back, one man is thrown out of the house by the force of the two bullets that Sam has put in him. Within seconds, although to the people involved it seemed like a lot longer, there is silence. Sam walked over to the table which had the remnants of the men's last meal on it, and something both he and Callen recognized, the arm stand from Hetty's concealed Derringer.

"Clear?" Deeks calls from the lower floor.

"Clear." Kensi replies.

They stop as they hear sounds of fear from the closet.

"Here." Deeks nods his head towards the door.

Kensi opened the door and a woman was hunched up in the closet, crying.

Callen gently lifted her out and talked to her quietly in Czech. " _ **It's OK. We won't hurt you. The lady who was here…where is she**_?"

" _ **They took her this afternoon**_." She sobbed.

" _ **Where**_?" Callen asked.

" _ **A house on the beach.**_ " She replied, the others looked confused as they didn't understand the conversation.

" _ **You know this house**_?" Callen pressed.

"I know it. It's on the Black Sea. Romania." She nodded wiping her eyes.

Callen smiled at her and handed her to Kensi to lead her outside and turned to Sam.

"Hetty's alive." He told Sam and the others.

"Where?" Sam asked.

"Romania." Callen told him.

* * *

Alexa and Anya where in the kitchen in the large family home, Anya put Gregori Senior's meal onto a tray and with a small smile took the food upstairs; Ami helping her mother with feeding her grandfather, while, Alexa got the rest of the meal ready.

At the table sat Alexa's husband Daniel, Greg, three cousins and a few of the higher family members.

Greg looked up at a knock on the door; one of the bodyguards was standing at the door with a small looking older woman.

Hetty looked around the table, stopping for a second at the sight of Callen's son, who looked remarkably like him.

All the conversation that had been going on before she entered stopped.

"My apologies...for intruding. I have a message for the head of the Comescu Family." Hetty said, she looked at the men around the table, none of them answered her.

"I am the head of the Comescu Family. My name is Alexa Comescu." Alexa said in English, her voice hard and clipped, she couldn't believe this woman had walked into her house.

"And I'm..." Hetty started.

"Gloria Edwards, according to your passport. Your real name is Henrietta Lange. You prefer Hetty. But I doubt even that is your real name. Now, tell me, Henrietta, what message could be of such importance that you are willing to die to deliver it?" She said with as much venom as she could muster. Yes, she knew all about Hetty, and how she was controlling her baby brother, the only thing keeping her from killing the tiny woman was that she knew where he was.

* * *

Sam parked an old green Mercedes on the road near the beach; the house they were looking for was hidden behind trees as they got out and looked at it.

Kensi looked at the house, "Two stories. High fence." She said.

Callen looked at the house and looked at the beach, something…something was familiar….really….familiar. He stepped onto the sand as the others talked.

"Well, the gate will be guarded, even if you can't see them. Approach from the beach will probably be covered, as well." Sam said checking out the defenses.

"They'd see us coming for miles." Deeks said.

"Well, then it has to be from the road." Kensi offered.

Callen wasn't listening he turned in a circle taking in the whole scene, the kite in the sky, the kids playing soccer, the sea, the sand…the house…

"Main entrance. We drive up," Kensi suggested.

"Maybe a diversion on the beach. Something to get them looking out. Then we come in tactical via the road, hit them hard and fast." Sam said

Laney…the word popped into his head and he walked slowly towards the water…where he had last seen her…but who was Laney.

* * *

In the large family dining room Hetty stood nervously, "For many years now, you have been looking for a man. The last of his family. His name is..."

"I know his name." Alexa snapped, she did not want this woman to use her brother's fake name in this house.

Hetty took out and envelope, Alexa nodded to the man who had brought Hetty in and he took the envelope from her, she opened it and took out a flash drive.

She handed it to her husband, " _ **Play it**_." She said in Romani.

She watched the footage which, thanks to her cousin she had seen before, he heart leapt, he had to be close…very close to figuring out who he was if she was going to pass this off as a recent shooting.

Alexa took a piece of paper out of the envelope, "And what is this?" She asked.

"Proof." Hetty promised.

Alexa looked down at what she knew to be a fake birth certificate.

"He died three weeks ago. They are all dead...Alexa." Hetty said.

Alexa crumbled the piece of paper in her hand and fought the urge to scream, this was one…one fake certificate, she hadn't said anything about Ilena…Maybe she didn't know that Ilena had found her way back to the family years ago.

* * *

Callen swayed and sank to his knees as flashback after flashback assailed him. Him being small, kids playing with kites, a man selling ice creams, a blonde girl showing him shells…Laney… the old sign behind him saying lifeguard on duty looking brand new.

"G?" Sam called looking at the shocked look on his partners face.

Callen's hand carded unseeingly through the sand, building a castle, he looked up lost in the flashback, Dobrashin Garasovic leant over him smiling and handed him his soldier, the one his papa had given him.

"G!" Sam walked over leaving Kensi and Deeks looking confused and put a hand on Callen's shoulder, "G?" he asked, he looked down and a lone tear was running down his partners face.

He remembered, he finally remembered, still not speaking he stood up and walked stumbling towards the house.

"G!" Sam called, following behind.

* * *

Alexa turned to Hetty, "And why should I trust you?" she asked.

Hetty took her jacket off and rolled up her left sleeve to show off the tattoo on her arm, it was a 16 spoke Romani wheel, the tattoo that all Comescu's got at 16. " _ **Because we are family**_." Hetty said in Romani.

Alexa watched this woman stone faced, she nodded and led her to the back kitchen "Wait here." She said. She turned around and walked out locking the door behind her.

She leant against the wall, her hand over her heart…he was so close, and he was here. But did she dare to hope.

She ran up the stairs, and looked out of the window, there in the spot she had looked at so many times, the spot where she had found her brother's bucket and spade so many years ago a man sank to his knees. A larger African American man walked towards him and placed what looked like a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Anya?" she called softly not wanting to wake her father.

Anya looked "Dmitri?" she held back a sob.

Alexa smiled, "Go to him, bring him home." She said.

Anya pulled off her apron and ran down the stairs followed by Ami and Greg who joined them as she ran out of the house and towards the man on the beach.

"Shit!" Deeks swore as people started flooding out of the house.

Kensi, Deeks and Sam pulled their guns as Callen went to do the same he heard a name screamed.

"Dmitri!" Anya screamed running towards him.

Callen pulled up and dropped his gun. "Anya?" he couldn't believe his eyes, "Anya?"

He stopped as she ran towards him and he reached for her like a drowning man, he held her tight for a second and looked into her eyes, "Anya…I…" he stopped as she looked up and he kissed her.

Sam, Kensi and Deeks stood back in shock, their guns still in their hands. Not at the ready, but they didn't know whether or not to use them.

"My Anya." Callen said, "I…I'm sorry," he said "You are probably married…I…"

"I am not married Gregori," she said with a light laugh her blonde hair whipping around her face; he grabbed a lock of her hair and pushed it behind her ear.

"W…what did you call me?" he asked.

"Gregori, that is your name, this is your family."

"My…my…" he looked at the two young people looking scared behind him.

"Amilena and Gregori, your children." She whispered in his ear.

"G?" Sam said again, trying to get his head around what was going on.

Callen looked at his partner, a look of pure happiness on his face, Sam and the others looked shocked. Callen turned back to Anya, "Do they know?" he asked.

Anya nodded.

Kensi and Deeks looked at each other; those were the young people on the rooftop in Los Angeles.

They looked to Callen for advice, none of them knowing what to do.

Callen looked at his kids,  _ **his kids**_ …. He sank to his knees and the children ran up and wrapped their arms around him, "Papa!" Ami cried, finally holding him, Greg held him tight and breathed in his scent, this was him! His father, they may have been 26-years-old but this was a moment he'd dreamed off his whole life.

"G?" Sam said leaning over him.

"Sam…this is Anya," Callen said standing up and stroked her face, "The woman I love, my only love and my children…Amilena?" he stopped as Ami nodded and ducked under her father's arm, and Gregori…Sam…that's my name…Gregori…"

"Like your father." Anya said, "He's inside…he's not well, but he is waiting for you, as are your family."

Callen physically shook excitement and fear coursed through his body. "My…but…my family?"

"Ami…make your father a cup of tea, he's in shock." Anya said her nursing training kicking in.

"Gregori." Both the younger man and Callen looked at her, she smiled, "Greg," she said in a softer tone to her son, "Tell your Aunt Alexa he's home, he's finally home."

 


	13. Chapter 13

Sam sat at the table looking at the scene before him, Callen was sitting flanked by 2 young adults, both touching him, the girl with her arm in his arm and the boy with his hand on Callen's arm. Kensi and Deeks sat next to him as a man passed them all a drink.

Callen for his part was lost in his head, his hand moving up and down the table from side to side.

Anya smiled.

She reached over to a shelf and took an old toy car off it and placed it in his hand.

"My car." He said absently in Romanian.

Sam looked over at him, "G…are you ok?"

"Huh?" Callen suddenly realized where they were, "I think I'm home Sam…"

He blinked back tears that threatened to overwhelm him as Anya handed him a cup of tea.

"Drink my love," Anya said, someone wants to meet you.

Alexa stepped back into the room, "G?" she said.

Callen stood up and looked at his older sister, he remembered her…vaguely, and she would hold him and tell him stories with Laney…that name again… "Who is Laney?" Callen asked out of the blue. "Are you Laney?" he asked Alexa.

She shook her head, "No…I am…"

"Lexi?" he asked.

She nodded and he hugged her, "Lexi…I…I didn't know I am so sorry." He said.

"It is of no matter, you are home now." She said tears in her eyes. She looked over at the others sitting at her table, "Are they your captors?" she asked.

"What! No? What?" Callen looked at them, "No I work with them at NCIS, this is Sam Hanna my partner, and Kensi Blye and…"

"Yes Yes, Martin Deeks LAPD, my people picked you up going through customs, but until Anya confirmed it I wasn't sure it was you."

"Is Hetty here?" Callen asked worried.

Alexa gave a curt nod, "She is here and she is safe."

"Why is she here?" Kensi asked.

"She came to give me proof of your death." Alexa said sadly.

"Why?" Callen asked, "Did she know, I was told the Comescu family, were trying to kill me?" he looked at his sister who shook her head.

"Since you and your sister were taken we have been looking for you." Alexa said honestly.

"Laney? Laney…she's my sister isn't she?" he asked he couldn't hold the excitement back, "Did you find her?"

Alexa nodded, "Ilena came back to us a few years ago, but she had no idea where you were, Dracul has gone to pick her up from the airport."

"Is she older than me?" Callen asked looking at his new family, "What's she like?"

"She is your twin, papa." Ami said, "She is very nice."

"I have a twin?" He smiled, "Was she there when mama was killed on the beach?" he asked Alexa remembering the dark haired woman who had been shot when he was on the beach.

Alexa pulled a big book out, Callen sat next to Sam at the table and Alexa opened the album, "That was not your mother, that was CIA Agent Clara Callen."

"This is your mother, Amy Stevens she was my stepmother, she died giving birth to you and Ilena." He pulled a picture of a blonde woman out of the album, "You never saw her, but she had a recording and she would read you a story every night before bed."

"Stevens?" he said his mind racing, He knew his mind went to her when he was stressed but could it be? He looked at the photo of his mother again… "Grace…Grace is my sister!"

"Grace?" Alexa asked.

"I met her, it was her name when we met at the factory." He looked ashamed he hadn't told his co-workers about this, "It was where the CIA trained us."

"As an Agent?" Deeks asked.

Callen shook his head, "Expendable assets, this is why I tried to stop you for coming, for me this was supposed to be a one way trip, my job was to give my life for Hetty's." he explained, he looked at Alexa, "It still is, if you are planning on killing her, then you will have to kill me first, I have to defend her with my life."

Alexa looked at her baby brother and shook her head slowly.

"You have been lied to Gregori, for a long long time I fear."

"Alexa, I need to see her, if she knew I need to know…" he said.

Alexa nodded, "Soon, there is someone who has waited a very long time to see you, he is very ill, but you must see him,"

Callen looked at her as understanding dawned within him, he wasn't an orphan…his mother was dead but his father… "Papa?" he asked in a small voice.

Alexa nodded.

"Sam…" Callen turned to his partner, "I…I can't…not alone, please?" he asked.

Sam nodded, "We didn't follow Hetty G, We came to back you up." He said.

Callen looked at them all, as they nodded in agreement.

Anya took him by the hand, "Your father, his name is Gregori Comescu, he had a stroke a few years ago, and we had nearly found you when you were shot."

Alexa turned to Sam, "You were there, I believe, thank you for saving my brother's life."

Sam looked at her, "He's like a brother to me, and he's my partner."

She smiled, "Dracul called my father when you were shot, and the shock…he had a stroke, Anya got a nursing degree and she takes care of him."

"Will, will he know me?" Callen asked.

Ami smiled at her father, "Come on Papa, he gets you confused with Greg all the time, we'll come with you, you are not alone anymore." She said.

He wrapped his arm around his daughter, "Thank you."

* * *

Anya led the way, she opened the door to a bright sunlight room, a memory ran through Callen's mind, the doors were taller in his mind and he had a small animal of some sort in his hand, a bunny maybe. He turned to Alexa, "I remember…" He said to her.

"Your last morning," she nodded, "You and Ilena had a nightmare." She reminded him, "You both had the same dreams often and I would find you creeping into father's room." She put a hand on his shoulder as he stopped.

"This was my room?" he asked, he noticed a scuff mark on the floor where he used to play cars and chase Laney with them and bang the cars into the doorframe.

She nodded, "Yours and Ilena's."

Anya stuck her head outside the door, "He's ready." She said holding her hand out to Callen.

Shaking he grasped her hand tightly. "Stay with me?" he asked.

She nodded and stood behind him as he walked in the door.

He was in bed, his white hair brushed neat, and his silken black sheets making him appear commanding. He was propped up in bed and stared at the door as Callen instinctively stopped, as his hands hit the edge of the door the same as they had done when he last walked in the room when he was five.

Gregori Senior gave a half smile, his stroke making him unable to complete it, "Gregori?" he asked.

Callen stuck his head around the door and took in the sight of the man. His eyes and facial shape were the same as his and he held out a thin very old hand.

Callen walked in looking at the man, "Hello sir." He said stiffly, he ran his hands down his shirt, brushing off the excess sand. Wishing he looked a lot better than the wreck he felt he looked like.

"Come…" Gregori said in croaky English. "Let me see you." He said.

Callen moved closer until he reached the edge of the bed, Gregori's hand grasped his son.

"I am so sorry," Gregori said as he looked at his son's hand in his, the last time they had touched he had been 18 years old.

"I didn't mean too…I mean…If I had known…I would never have." Callen stood there as tears started to fall, "I didn't know." He whispered.

"It had been so long, I was angry at you because I thought you looked so much like my son, and yet there you were with parents and a different name and then to find out they gave you her name…but only left you with an initial. It was when that man called you G, it clicked, it wasn't that you looked like my son, you were my son…only I had just lost you again." Gregori started coughing and Callen gave him a sip of water from the glass, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Do you know why they took me Papa?" Callen asked.

Gregori shook his head a small movement not completed but the gist was there. "I do not…I think it was the feud, the Callen's had with the Comescu's. A man a long time ago, George Callen was working as a double agent in the war against Germany. Your grandfather, my father was smuggling Jews and gypsies out of Poland to England and America, he trusted George Callen to help him but George turned him in and he was killed. A man…a Russian a friend of the family killed George Callen and escaped to Romania and married my aunt, his family swore revenge on our family, put out the rumor we were people trafficking and arms smuggling. This is not true, we did smuggle people, but only until the war ended, we save thousands of lives. They wanted to end the Comescu line with you, but they wanted you to be the one to kill me."

"I…I…can't!" Callen sat back shocked.

Gregori patted his son's hand, "You do not have to. You are home now, although I want you to stay and your children will want you to stay, but if you have a life in America, and a family."

"No…I mean, I have a life, I love my job…although, I gave it up to come here, but I do not have a family, I have been searching for Anya for years, but I couldn't find an Anya Petrovitch anywhere." He explained.

"Her name is Anya Comescu, we let her into the family and she wanted her children to have your real name."

"Thank you for looking after her." He said.

Anya walked behind him, "We are family, you are family." She kissed his head, "Your father needs to rest now." She said and led him out.

As soon as the door shut Callen pulled Anya into his arms, He kissed her deeply as tears fell down his face, "Is this real?" he asked her his voice tentative.

She smiled, "This is real, what happens now is up to you, I will not put any pressure on you, if you need to go back to America, then you can go I will still love you." She said with earnest.

He wiped the back of his hands over his eyes and turned back to go downstairs, "I need to talk to Hetty, then…then I will decide what to do."

* * *

He went down the stairs and stood watching his children interrogate his team about him. He smiled as he spotted the techniques he used when trying to get information out of Sam, working with his son.

"So…tell me does Papa have a car?"

Ami's eyes lit up, "Yes a big red American Mustang?" she asked. "And you say you all live in California, do you surf, and see the President?" she asked.

Kensi laughed, "Deeks surfs, I think your father does, although I've never seen him, no he doesn't have a car."

"Yes I do," Callen smiled as he walked into the room, "Not a mustang though, I have an Aston Martin."

"Like James Bond?" Greg asked with a smile.

Callen nodded and placed a hand on his son's shoulder, "Yes son, just like James Bond but without the gadgets."

"Although Eric and Nell could help with that." Deeks suggested.

Both twins looked at their father with bright eyes, "They can?" they said together.

"No….just no." Callen laughed, "Go up and see your grandfather, I need to talk to my team." He said.

The twins stopped and looked at him, "You will be here when we come down, won't you Papa?" Ami asked, Greg nodding in agreement.

"I am not leaving…for now, I will be here when you come downstairs." He promised them, Ami kissed his cheek and went off upstairs; Greg nodded and followed his sister.

"So..." Sam said. "What now?"

"Now I call Vance and then we see Hetty and figure out why she came here." I know I am not NCIS anymore, but I at least owe the Director, He needs to know what's going on." Callen said.

He sat at the table and picked up his phone and dialed Eric.

"Is this true then, is this your family?" Kensi asked.

Callen nodded, "My name is Gregori Comescu II, and this is the home I was born in." he said as he waited for Eric to answer.

 


	14. Chapter 14

"Eric Here." Eric said as he answered the phone.

"It's Callen." Callen said sitting at the dining room table with the others.

"I'll pass you to Director Vance." Eric said handing the phone over to the Director.

Vance took the phone.

"You are a long way from home, Agent Callen." He said.

Callen gave a sour laugh, "A week ago I would have agreed with you, Now? Not so much." He replied.

"Is your team alright?" Vance asked.

"Not my team. I quit remember?" he said

"The team then and Hetty?" Vance asked.

"They are fine, Hetty's here and she's ok….for now." He said flatly.

"So you found her?" Vance asked concerned.

"Yeah, I found her and a few things more." Callen said.

"Fill me in…" Vance said.

" No." Callen said, "You need to be here."

"Where?" Vance asked.

"The Comescu compound." Callen said.

"You've taken it already?" Vance asked surprised.

Callen shook his head, "No Sir, Can't take what's already mine."

"Callen?" Vance was confused.

"Hetty is staying with us for now and she's safe for now, but I want to know Director how much of this do you know?" he asked his voice becoming hard.

"I know what I told you Agent Callen." Vance said worriedly.

"Check Hetty's other file; I know she had more than one. She stole me from my family as a child, her and Clara Callen,"

"Your mother?" Vance asked.

"No…Not my mother, My Mother was a woman called Amy Stevens she died in childbirth, my sister…my sister was Grace Stevens, she's an Agent can you find her?" he asked Vance.

Eric, Nell and Vance looked at each other in shock.

"I will try my best," Vance said, "I will come out to sort this out, I will have Eric and Nell find the other Comescu file and we will head over there on the next flight. These are very serious charges Agent Callen, trust I will be taking this seriously."

"Thank you." Callen said honestly. "I will have Kensi and Deeks meet you at the airport when you send me your flight details."

Kensi and Deeks nodded in agreement.

Callen cut the call and looked at the others around the table, "If you guys want to leave, I won't hold it against you."

"We are here for you G." Sam said honestly.

"I don't understand…?" Deeks said, "So all this time, Hetty knew who you were?"

Callen nodded, "She's always known…I think…." Callen stood up, "Lexi?" he called.

Alexa walked into the kitchen, "Gregori?" she asked him.

"I need to see Hetty." He said. "Alone."

Alexa walked up to her little brother and put a hand on his shoulder, "Are you sure that is wise Gregori?" she asked.

"I need to know Lexi!" he said shaking.

"But Alone…G, please…She needs to pay for her crimes, but you cannot…she is too close to you." Alexa said worried for her little brother.

"I'll go with him." Sam said.

Alexa smiled, "Thank you Sam."

* * *

Hetty was looking at the pickled preserves as Alexa walked into the room.

"So ... You're family. A Romanian. A gypsy." Alexa said as she motioned for Hetty to sit down and poured her a cup of tea.

"I was born after the war in a refugee camp in Bucharest." She said

"And your parents?" Alexa asked

"Two years ... in a concentration camp. My father died two months before my birth. My mother ... two days later. A family brought me to the camp. They were also Roma." She said

"What was the name of this family?" Alexa asked.

"Pavlenco." Hetty said

Alexa stopped and stared at Hetty, she knew that Hetty had no idea that her brother was here, yet she kept the façade up anyway.

"You lie." Alexa said coldly.

"I certainly do not lie, Alexa." Hetty said her had clenching slightly.

Alexa took the pictures of her brother and his team out of her pocket placing them one by one in front of the woman.

"Taken yesterday at the airport in Prague." Alexa said truthfully.

Hetty stared at the photo of Callen.

"You lie, Henrietta." She said

She placed a photo of Sam in front of Hetty.

"You lie." Alexa said again standing up. She placed a photo of Kensi in front of the smaller woman, "You lie."

She placed a photo of Deeks on the table, "You lie."

Hetty stared at the pictures in shock.

Alexa pointed at the pictures with her knife.

"You killed two of our men in Prague. Them and five more. One of them was a nephew." She said.

"And you made soup." Hetty said matter of factly looking at the few unchopped vegetables on the counter.

Alexa took her knife and started to chop the carrots.

"These agents ... they come for me?" She asked hoping Hetty would talk to her.

"No for me." Hetty said

"To kill you?" Alexa asked

Hetty shook her head, "No, to save me."

Alexa nearly laughed at the audacity of the woman, "You are trying to save this one bringing me proof of his death." She said pointing to the picture of her brother.

"Call it a last attempt to stop the bloodshed between his family and yours." Hetty said

"You knew it was going to fail that is why I wonder, Henrietta Lange, why… exactly, are you here?" Alexa said, "Did you not think I would recognize my own brother?" she asked.

Hetty went pale. "You….you know?" she asked.

The door opened and Callen stepped in with Sam by his side.

Alexa nodded to him and walked out, placing a supportive hand on his arm as he walked in the door.

"More importantly I know," G said, "I want to know how much you know, how long have you been involved in my life?"

Hetty sat back in the chair her face a blank.

"Tell me!" Callen sat in the chair opposite the woman he had thought of as a friend and mentor.

"Since you were brought to America." She said softly.

"Did you know?" He asked, "Did you know who I was?"

Hetty sighed and looked up surprised as Callen poured her another tea.

He smiled sadly as he handed her the cup, "It would be remiss of me not to offer you refreshments in my own home." He sighed as he poured himself a drink, "You taught me that."

Hetty looked down she did care more for him than she cared to admit, this idea of Clara's had gone so wrong.

"This wasn't how it was supposed to be." She whispered.

"Did you know about my placements?" Callen asked. "As a child did you have any say in who I was placed with?" he asked again.

She knew exactly what he was on about and nodded, "I placed you with Davis originally."

Sam looked confused and Callen thumped the table in frustration.

"Did you know about him?" Callen asked his voice low and dangerous.

Hetty nodded, "You were too willful, you needed to be brought back into line."

"And you thought that _ **HE**_  was the way to bring me into line." He asked his hands clenched.

"You were being uncooperative…" she started arguing.

"I WAS A CHILD!" He yelled, making Sam jump. "DO YOU KNOW WHAT HE DID TO ME?!"

Hetty nodded, "I had no idea…I promise you Mr. Callen…"

"No!" Callen snapped. "My name is Gregori, use it!"

"Gregori, I didn't know I was told he was good at discipline, I was sickened when I found out how…"

"I was 12, you left me alone with him for a weekend, long enough to kill the child inside me. You could have checked, you could have stopped him, you knew he wasn't allowed to have children, you should have checked why…but you didn't care did you, you allowed Agent Clara Callen to steal two five-year-olds from their father and sister, all they knew split them up, raised them both as Agents who thought they were expendable, who would die to save the life of other Agents who were worth more…my question Hetty is simple, if you allowed all this to happen to me, what did you do to Grace…Does she even know she is my sister Ilena?"

Hetty went pale. "You…you know about Grace?"

Callen nodded, "I saw a picture of my mother, my real mother Amy and I remembered Grace looks just like her."

"So my last question, before I leave you to think about how you destroyed the life of two children, is who exactly have you got that has infiltrated my family and is masquerading as my sister, because I'm pretty sure that Grace Stevens doesn't know she's really Ilena Comescu…so Who?" he insisted.

"Lauren Hunter." Hetty said.

Sam looked at her in surprise and got up to leave, Callen followed, "Why did you do this to me Hetty? Why did you allow Clara Callen to do this?"

"Clara was my cousin; I just wanted this feud to end." Hetty said tiredly.

"You'll get your wish." Callen said coldly as he closed and then locked the door behind him.

* * *

Callen leaned against the wall as Sam looked at him, "G? Who's Davis?" he asked.

Callen paled and ran for the bathroom losing his lunch in the process.

Anya came down the stairs as Callen emerged from the bathroom. "My love, are you alright?" she asked.

Callen smiled and held her, "Soon, I will be, I promise…How is my father?" he asked her.

She smiled, "For the first time since I've known him, he's sleeping peacefully, and not calling for you in his sleep."

They walked into the kitchen and sat at the table as Alexa dished them up food, "Your sister will be here soon."

"She isn't my sister." Callen told her, "She is a CIA plant, her name is Lauren Hunter, have Dracul bring her here in the morning, we can put her with Hetty until Vance arrives."

"Are you sure, she knew so much, I was convinced she was Ilena." Alexa said as she handed Deeks a plate of food.

"Thank you." Deeks said.

"My sister is an agent as well, her name is Grace Stevens."

"Stevens?"

Callen looked up interested. "Yeah…why?"

"Your mother's maiden name was Stevens; her father was a Lord Simon Stevens who didn't like us because your mother married our father."

"Lord Stevens raised Grace," Callen sighed with relief, "She was raised by her grandfather…not in foster care." He smiled.

"Why didn't he raise you too?" Kensi asked.

Callen shrugged, "Good question."

* * *

Alexa finally sat down with them as the twins ran into join them.

They both stopped, "Sorry we are late Aunt Alexa, Sorry mama, sorry papa."They said and went to get some food.

"It's getting late," Callen said, he didn't want to leave his family so soon, but he wasn't about to impose.

The twins smiled, "That's why we were late, we have finished getting the rooms ready," Ami said, "Mr. Sam and Mr. Deeks, you have a room, Miss. Kensi, if it is agreeable, you can share with Ami and Papa, I put you in with Mama."

Callen looked embarrassed for a moment and looked at Anya who smiled, "Thank you children." She said, "Of course you will all stay here."

Callen smiled approvingly at his kids. He hadn't even known them for a whole day and he loved them unconditionally.

Alexa cleared up the dishes, "I have talked to Dracul, and he told Hunter that we have extra guests and have put them up in a hotel for the night, and she has no idea."

Callen nodded and went to help her.

"Gregori, you need to rest and more importantly you need to have some time with Anya. I am fine with this," she hugged him, "Welcome home little brother."

He hugged her back melting into her hug, not caring that his team, his future wife…if she'd have him and his children were watching. "I missed you Lexi." He whispered.

She hugged him some more and then pulled back, "Go rest my brother; we have a big day tomorrow."

Kensi wiped a tear from her eye and shot a look at Deeks who looked like he was blinking back a tear himself.

Callen looked at Anya and smiled as she took his hand, "Ok Sam, the kids will show you all where to go, I'll see you in the morning," he smirked as Anya pulled his arm towards the stairs.

The twins got up and ran over to their father, and hugged him, "Night Papa…we will see you in the morning yes?" Gregori asked.

Ami nodded in agreement.

Callen let go of Anya's hand and wrapped both arms around his children. "I will see you both in the morning, I love you two." He kissed them both on the forehead and then followed Anya up the stairs.

Deeks yawned, "I am tired…he admitted."

Gregori turned, "We took your bags out of the car and took them to your rooms." He smiled looking so much like his father Sam couldn't help but grin.

"Yeah, guys we should turn in, Vance is arriving tomorrow and you and Kensi are to pick him up at the airport." Sam said to Deeks.

Callen and Anya walked into her room.

"I remember this room?" Callen said looking around, "But it was bigger?"

Anya smiled, "No my love, you were smaller." She told him. "This was your room, it was as close to you as I could get."

Callen walked over to her and took her in his arms kissing her deeply.

"Finally," Anya said and closed the door.

 


	15. Chapter 15

Grace Stevens had been on her current assignment for 5 months and she hated every moment of it. She had allowed herself to be taken by a gang of human traffickers and was being used by various Russian Mafia gangs as a high priced call girl who was to be used and abused according to the will of the highest bidder; she had however gained some valuable information which she was once a month feeding back to Hetty as ordered.

Grace sat on the bed, her last client had left an hour ago and she had a bag of ice on her face and ribs hoping to dispel some of the bruising that she was sure would appear, Sergei Petrovitch had been her latest client, he was a sadistic S.O.B. who according to rumor had gotten that way since the death of his daughter. But he had contacts and usually talked in his sleep when Grace got most of her pertinent information, although to this day she had never figured out who Dmitri Lenkov was but she worried for him and Sergei often strangled her while trying to kill this Dmitri guy in his sleep.

She slowly got up and stretched gingerly, she looked at herself in the mirror trying not to be disgusted by the person staring back at her. "This is all for the mission, the mission is important you are not." She said aloud to herself, repeating the mantra she had been taught in the factory as a child.

Her thoughts flicked back to that time, to the kid she had met there who had made her feel safe and complete, G. Callen…she remembered him because he didn't have a first name. She remembered the hours they would spend talking about everything and nothing, how they would just sit reveling in being near each other and how without thinking they would find themselves holding hands. It had been nice, even though they were teenagers it hadn't been sexual or romantic, it had just been two lost souls who had seemed to have found each other and for a while felt whole.

She looked at her small bag of belongings, she had heard she was going to be sent to a Russian arms dealer known as Sidarov, he was particularly vicious and none of the regular CIA operatives would go undercover with him, which had prompted the CIA to contact the factory for one of their expendable operatives. She was, although she would admit to no one scared about this op, but there was only one other CIA operative that could do it, but she was unavailable right now. Grace carefully pulled her ripped top up. She sighed and took it off throwing it in her bag with her other clothes, she pulled out some clean clothes and put them on the side as she climbed into the shower hoping to wash the feeling of Sergei Petrovitch off her.

* * *

An hour later after she had finished screaming and crying and getting all the emotions out that she needed too, she stepped out of the shower and pulled her clean clothes on, opening a small compartment that was hidden at the bottom of her bag, she took out her issued phone to check for messages.

She was surprised to see one, not from the factory with her new assignment but from the Director of NCIS…'Hetty's boss?' she thought worried about her aunt.

She immediately dialed his number, "Director Vance? Grace Stevens." She said as she sat on the bed

"Agent Stevens, I hope this isn't an inconvenient time?" Vance said.

"No, I'm good Sir; did you need me for an assignment?" She asked.

"Er…No…well, not exactly. I need to talk to you…what do you know about your birth parents?" he asked.

Grace was grateful she was sitting down, "My….what?!"

"I have been informed that you have been a part of a plot, which we uncovered recently, would you be available to accompany me to Romania, This is important Ms. Stevens, but this is not an order, you may decline." Vance said

Grace looked shocked, "No…I mean I'm not declining Sir, I want to come, I assume you have more details," she said

"I do, can you send me your address, I will have a car pick you up and send you to the nearest airport, where are you right now?" he asked.

"Actually…" she smiled in spite of herself, "I'm four blocks away from the OSP office. I assume you are in D.C?"

Vance gave a small laugh, "Actually I'm sitting at Hetty Lange's desk."

"I can be there in 20 minutes." Grace said with a nervous laugh, she put the phone down grabbed her light blue canvas bag and a light blue bed roll, all that she owned and then she left.

* * *

Arriving at OSP she was met at the door by Director Vance who looked at her bag and bed roll and gave a small smile, "You really are…aren't you." He said cryptically.

"Sorry?" she said having no idea what he was talking about.

"Never mind," he shook his head and walked inside with her, "We need to talk about what is currently going on." He said.

Grace walked over to Hetty's office and put her bags down, "Where's Hetty?" she asked.

"That's what we need to talk about." Vance said gravely and he sat down. Grace taking her cue sat opposite him an uneasy feeling building in her gut.

"Where's Hetty?" she asked again worried for her aunt.

"She's in Romania, she's being held by a family called the Comescu's."

"You need me to go and extract her?" Grace said mentally preparing herself.

"Not exactly." Vance said.

At that Grace stopped. "Sorry, Hetty's being held by a crime family and you don't want me to go in and get her out?"

"There are things you need to know first." Vance said.

"So tell me so I can leave and rescue my aunt, if you won't." she snapped.

"She's not your aunt…" Vance started; Grace looked at him as if he was crazy.

"I know my family Director." She said.

"You know your Grandfather." Vance said, "Simon Stevens is your biological Grandfather."

"No…He's my father…my mother died when I was born." Grace told him.

Vance looked at her, he handed her a folder, pictures that Callen had sent of him and Ilena when they were babies and pictures of his mother Amy Stevens.

"Why is my mother holding 2 babies? Who are they?" Grace asked.

"That is Lord Simon Steven's daughter Amy…she married Gregori Comescu in 1968 in 1970, she had you and your brother."

"I don't have a brother?" she looked shocked, Nell came down and passed her a cup of tea. "Thank you." Grace said in shock.

"That's ok, your brother drinks tea as well, especially when he's uneasy about something." Nell smiled.

"You know him?" she asked. She knew the Director wouldn't lie to her, but she had trusted Hetty and her father…no Grandfather.

"Miss Jones, if you can fill Ms Steven's in on what we have so far." Vance said and sat back.

* * *

"Operation Comescu started in the 1970's just after you Ilena and your brother Gregori were born. CIA Agents Callen and Reznikov planned to raise you both separately and they were training your brother to kill your father Gregori Comescu senior. You were to be trained to kill your brother if he failed to carry out the task."

Grace looked shocked but nodded wanting to know more.

"Agent Clara Callen died on the beach and Agent Reznikov decided he couldn't raise you both alone so Hetty Lange changed the plan."

"Hetty knew about this?"

"Since Clara Callen died on the beach she has been in charge of the plan keeping you both as close as possible, She arranged with your grandfather to raise you, he didn't want your brother, so she kept him under an alias in a variety of foster homes, moving him every few months or weeks so he wouldn't feel settled."

"Oh my God…That must have been awful…" Grace breathed, "I had a friend for a while, who was brought up like that, he was so lost…It must have been terrible for my brother. Where is he now?" she asked looking around hoping whoever this brother was he was nearby, her thought strayed to G. Callen, the boy she had met in the factory.

"He's at the Comescu compound, he's one of the Agents we sent after Hetty, and he got his memory back when he arrived at your family home."

"I wonder…?" Grace said to herself, unfortunately she said it aloud.

"Sorry?" Nell asked.

"When we find my brother, I had a friend at the factory…the place we were trained as agents, as kids…" Grace shook her head, "I had a friend, like a soul mate…we were teenagers, I just felt safe with him…he grew up in the system, I know he's an agent somewhere, maybe you could find him, he went through horrible things as a child…when we find my brother, maybe he would talk to him, I mean I don't know what my brother does, but maybe…he could talk to him and let him know it'll be ok." Grace knew she was stumbling as she talked but she knew if they could find Agent Callen…Callen?

"Is that Agent Callen…was she related to G. Callen?" Grace asked.

"Not exactly, but he was named after her…do you know G. Callen?" Vance asked, this was beginning to seem even more complicated than it had in the first place.

"G. Callen was my friend at the factory, if he's not dead, he might talk to my brother…or maybe not if it was his mother…but he was kind to me as a teenager, he had been through so much as a kid, and what they did to train us at the factory. Maybe he could just talk to him a bit, make him see there is life after all this."

Vance looked at her carefully, she really didn't know…he was concerned about the hints she was dropping.

"Before we go on would you tell us about this factory…on the record?"

Grace shrugged, "I don't see why not, there are only about three or four of us left now. The rest are dead." She said flatly.

Vance nodded to Nell who set up a recording device from one of the closets in Hetty's office.

* * *

"The factory was started in 1988, for a group of Elite kids, who had no families or ties, to become expendable agents." Grace said.

"Define Expendable?" Vance asked.

Grace spoke as if by rote. "Your job as an Agent is to do things other Agents would not be able to do, you are worthless, no one cares about you, your job is to die to save another agent, your body and mind belong to the agency to use as they wish, be it another agent or a suspect, if we deem it right to abuse your body you will not fight it. You are to do as you are ordered, you belong to us." She sat up with defiance in her eyes, "That is what I mean by expendable." She said.

"Do you know the names of the other agents in your group?" Vance asked.

Grace nodded, "There was Mike Sullivan…he died a few years ago…shoot out to save another agent jumped in front of a bullet, Sally Carter, gang raped to death while getting information for a CIA sting…she got enough information to take the gang down, Dan…Daniel Morello…Danny…" Grace choked and wiped her eyes angrily… "Stood up for me with an instructor who tried to rape me after Callen left, he was beaten to death as an example." She took a sip from a glass of water that Nell had passed to her and gave her a small smile, "There are I think only 3 of us left now, Lauren Hunter, G. Callen and myself." She finished. "Although I heard that Hetty was keeping her eye on a few more kids, well one especially he was younger than us, shot his father when he was 11, a Martin A. Brandel, not sure what happened to him."

"And this was sanctioned?" Vance said horrified at what he had just heard.

"A Director Simmons ran it working under someone who created the factory…."

Nell coughed, "Erm…it was Clara Callen and Hetty Lange they conceived the idea, the original plan…" she turned to the plasma screen and pulled up files, "The idea was to find children with no families, children who were no one and use them in ways that seasoned agents wouldn't allow themselves to be used, the original idea was to take the two Comescu children and use them as a way to stop the feud between the Callen's and the Comescu's. Other children came under their radar, some older some younger, drop outs….runaways and children from abused families started although the factory was closed as soon as Grace finished, sorry," Nell turned to Grace apologetically.

Grace sighed in relief, "It's good to know that no other kids went through that training, they broke us…well, most of us, they couldn't break Callen…they sent him out to a man called Davis…I overheard some of the instructors talking, Davis was one of his ex foster parents, a nasty piece of work apparently he was Callen's Achilles heel and a quicker way to break him…I never saw him after that…I thought he was dead until I heard from the instructor that Callen had been well and truly broken and had been sent straight out into the field. But the factory isn't closed Hetty runs it and gives us our orders to go where needed.

* * *

Vance realized that Grace didn't know so he told her straight, "Grace, G. Callen is your twin brother." He said making sure this time she heard him.

"My…Brother…my twin…I need to see him, where is he?"

Vance smiled, finally, "Romania," he told her again, "We are going and we are going to confront Hetty with the charges that you have helped me to file."

Grace stood up and pace the small room, "I don't get it, I thought she was my aunt…I thought she loved me…It was all a lie?"

Vance nodded, "I think so, we will know more when we arrive in Romania, now my dear, we have a flight to catch, I believe Ms. Jones you made all the arrangements."

Nell nodded, "In the envelope on Hetty's…on the desk." She said.

Grace picked up her bag and bedroll, "Fine I'm ready, let's go." She said Vance smiled; she looked as determined as Callen would have if the situation had been reversed. Somehow he could see why people would be worried; he was slightly worried as to what the twins would do when they were reunited.

Vance nodded, shut off the desk lamp and they headed out the door.

 


	16. Chapter 16

Callen woke up in a soft bed with his arms around a woman…He opened his eyes and smiled, "Anya…" he said softly, it hadn't been a dream, he really had found his family, and his one true love he'd been searching for, for years and he had children.

She hummed as she turned and snuggled into his chest, softly kissing him in his sleep, "Gregori…" she sighed happy.

He smiled and looked down at her as she finally woke and looked up at him. Last night's lovemaking came rushing back and his smile got wider. "I'm not dreaming am I?" he asked. She lifted the sheet and smiled and kissed his chest, "No my love you are not dreaming."

He pulled her closer and gave her a passionate kiss. Anya giggled as he pulled the duvet over his head and for the first time in his life he didn't get up at the crack of dawn.

Sam and Deeks looked at each other and Deeks blushed as they walked past the room Callen was sleeping in an hour later and they heard the sounds from within. Sam stopped in mid knock and turned to Deeks, "Maybe we should wait till he comes down."

Anya moaned passionately from behind the door, and Deeks grinned, "That might be a while." He said.

Sam rolled his eyes and pushed Deeks towards the stairs.

* * *

Ami and Kensi were already in the kitchen.

"Morning." Kensi grinned, "You two sleep well?" she asked.

"Yep." Deeks replied "You?" he asked.

Kensi grinned and Ami burst into laughter, "We had a late night telling Ami stories about her father." She admitted, "Did you knock for Callen?" she asked.

Deeks looked out the window as Sam mumbled something… "Sorry?" Kensi asked.

"I said he's busy…." Sam repeated.

"I'll go!" Ami offered.

"NO!" Deeks and Sam shouted at the same time… "Err…I mean maybe you should wait till he come downstairs." Sam finished.

The girls shrugged and got breakfast ready as Alexa joined them.

"Good Morning," Alexa said, "I hope you slept well." She smiled.

The others nodded, they all liked Alexa now, and she was nothing like the picture Hetty had painted of the family. As they ate they chatted and about an hour later arm in arm, Callen and Anya came down the stairs, both looking to their respective families, more happier than they had in the whole time they had known them.

"Morning, Gregori…Anya?" Alexa smiled.

Callen walked over to find coffee and Ami handed him a mug, "Coffee papa? Kensi said you like it like this."

Callen took a large gulp of his coffee and smiled, "It's perfect," he told his daughter…his daughter, he smiled more; he still loved the sound of that.

G sat at the table next to his sister and Anya as Ami gave them breakfast, "I have to go and give Grandfather his breakfast, I will see you soon." Ami said kissing her parents as she put their plates down. "I will look after him today mama, you need to be here."

"Thank you Amilena," Anya said.

Alexa got up and made some breakfast and put it on a tray, "I shall go feed our other Guest." She said she had put the same care into the breakfast that she made Hetty as she had into her brother's breakfast after all she was a Comescu and they were known for their hospitality.

"Where is Greg?" Callen asked Alexa.

"He has gone to pick up the fake Ilena from the hotel with Dracul…Also I had a call from your Nell Jones…Director Vance is on his way and should be here by 12 noon. Ms Jones said to tell you he is bringing a surprise." Alexa said as she left the room.

Callen looked at the others on his team, "You guys know anything about this?" he asked.

The others shook their heads.

Callen shrugged and took his plate to the sink, Anya followed him with hers and nudged him out of the way, she stood in front of the sink as he wrapped his arms around her as she washed up, Kensi nodded to the others and they went outside to look at the ocean and give them some privacy.

* * *

They walked along the beach, Kensi, Sam and Deeks all looking at the place where Callen had grown up.

"What do you think he is going to do?" Deeks asked.

The other two stopped and looked at him.

"What?!" Deeks said back stepping, "It's not like you haven't wondered, I mean he has a family, a woman he loves and apparently has loved for years, two children, a father and a sister…he's never had that before, do you think he'll come back with us or stay with them?"

Kensi looked back towards the house where Callen was swatting Anya with a towel and laughing.

"He's like a teenager, and he's so happy, Can we ask him to leave this, this is all he's ever wanted, how can we ask him to leave it behind and come back with us…Hell, we don't even know if there will be a team after this, I mean we don't know what Vance is going to do to Hetty, maybe there won't be an OSP for us to go back to and he'll be better off here." She said.

"Whatever G decides to do, we will support him, that's what family does." Sam said resolutely he was hurting at the thought of losing a teammate and a friend, but he had been through so much with Callen and had talked at length about his hunt for his family that he was at heart happy for his friend and would back him up whatever he decided to do.

He smiled as Callen lifted Anya up and kissed her.

"Did he ever tell you about her?" Kensi asked.

Sam shook his head, "No… he did say he was saving for something, I thought it was a house, but now I'm wondering if he was searching for her?"

Sam thought for a second and shook his head, "You guys need to go and get Vance, I'll go and check on Hetty." He said with a sigh as he turned to walk back to the house, unwilling to break up Callen's happy mood.

* * *

Walking up to the house Sam turned with a small smile of satisfaction as Greg, Dracul and Hunter got out of the car, Hunter still with an air of arrogance as she strode up towards the house, she stopped for a second in shock as she saw Sam but then pretended to ignore him and walked towards the door.

Sam stepped into line behind her as she walked in.

"Alexa!" she called happily.

Callen stepped out from around the corner.

"Sorry Hunter my sister is busy guarding Hetty, please come in and take a seat."

"C…Callen?" Lauren looked shocked.

Callen smiled as his daughter came down with her grandfather's breakfast tray. He smile stopped as she saw Hunter. "Curvă!" She spat and dropped the tray in the kitchen. Callen wrapped his arms around his daughter and watched with satisfaction as Hunter paled even more.

"You are better than that my Ami, you go back upstairs I will let you know when it is alright to come down, Keep yourself and my father safe." He said

Ami nodded with tears of anger in her eyes she hugged him back and ran upstairs as Hunter turned to call to her.

Callen stepping in the way his eyes dark and cold, "You will not EVER speak to my children again Agent Hunter." He said

"Callen…you…do you know what you have done?!" she was angry she had been on this operation for years, "You were there you know the rules…they'll kill me for this." She hissed.

Callen took another step towards her but directed his next message to the person behind her, "Dracul…" he smiled, "I will meet you later, I am Gregori." He said as Hunter shook with fear. "Greg…" he said to his son.

"Yes papa?" Greg replied.

"Go stay with your sister, take your mother and protect them all." He said. He wasn't sure what Hunter had planned, but he wasn't about to lose them.

Hunter felt a hand on her shoulder, "Agent Hanna?"

"Not an Agent I quit remember," he snarled.

"Sam…" Callen said, "You need to leave."

"No…G, you need me here." Sam said, he didn't know what he was planning but he didn't like what was going down with him and Hunter.

She smiled viciously at him, "They always said you were weak Callen, maybe you need another session with Davis."

Not thinking he hit her and she laughed. "I was trained in the factory too Callen…Do you think I am weaker than you?"

He stood face to face with her his hands balled at his sides as Sam put a hand on his shoulder, "Not now G, Let Vance deal with this."

"NO!" Hunter screamed, "I fought for this for years, I need to get….I need to finish my assignment, you need to finish yours Callen for Clara, your mother."

Callen blinked as some clarity, something came back to him. "Put her in with Hetty tie her up."

"I thought that room was escape proof?" Sam said confused.

"She was trained at the Factory, if she thinks she can't finish her mission and she now knows she can't, she will kill herself, and failure is not an option." Callen said

"Would you…if you were given a mission…G if you failed would you kill yourself?" Sam asked. He watched Callen like a hawk and noticed as his hand flinched, going towards where Sam knew Callen kept a concealed knife.

Callen nodded once, but said nothing stepping back so Dracul and Sam could take Hunter and put her in with Hetty.

"Dracul, can you watch them make sure Hetty does not talk to Hunter, it is important, Hetty must not be permitted to talk to her at all," Callen ordered.

Dracul looked at his cousin and nodded.

* * *

Callen sat heavily in the chair his hand finally pulling out that knife; he turned it in his hands as he fought the urge to complete his own mission. Hunter had said a set of words, he hadn't understood as she said it, but as she had left his mission came back to him and now he did.

He remembered being sat in a chair for days on end being tortured as the face of a man was flashed in front of him, being told this man killed his mother and one day he would have to kill him, it was his mission, the mission he had to fulfill. He angrily stabbed the knife into the table as he placed his hands either side and tears slid down his face as he fought the need to act on his compulsion.

"SAM!" He yelled and within seconds Sam was in there looking at the anguish on his friends face, "Sam…I…I need you to tie me up…stop me…please…" he begged.

Callen's hand grabbed the knife and Sam pulled it off him, and grabbed a Zip tie and tied him to the chair as Callen thrashed against his bonds. Callen kicked out with his legs and Sam tied them to the chair while Callen cursed, in between thanking Sam.

Finally Callen couldn't move and Sam out of breath sat on a nearby chair.

"G? What's going on?" Sam asked.

"Hunter…She activated my final mission…I didn't know Sam," Callen let the tears fall freely, "God Sam If I had had any idea, any Idea at all I would never have come here, I would have gone as far away as I could."

"What's your final mission?" Sam asked concerned as Alexa walked into the room.

Callen let his tears fall, he was fighting his compunction as much as he could and it was literally killing him. "My final mission…is to kill my father and then myself." He sobbed.

Alexa and Sam looked at each other worried, If Callen completed his mission, he would have to hurt the man he'd been looking for all his life, and then kill himself which would destroy his kids and Anya, and if he didn't kill his father, he was still compelled to kill himself to keep the secret of the factory.

No matter what, Callen felt he was doomed, his head dropped as his arms still fought their bonds.

"Sam if I get free I need your promise, you must shoot me, I can't complete this mission, I can't kill my father." he said as his tears of sorrow, anger and frustration fell freely.

Sam and Alexa looked at him in total shock and Sam hoped that Vance would be here soon and would know how to break Callen of this compulsion.

 


	17. Chapter 17

Grace grabbed her bag and bed roll off of the carousel and waited as Vance picked up his.

They walked towards the exit and Vance smiled as he saw Kensi and Deeks.

"Agent Blye, Detective Deeks it's nice of you to come and meet us." Vance said

Grace looked behind them, a little bit disappointed that Callen…G…her brother wasn't here to meet her, but said nothing.

"Callen sent us to get you; Hunter should have arrived at the house by now. We need to get there as you need to talk to Hunter and Hetty." Kensi said.

"Yes I do, I have some files and more evidence," Vance said as they walked to the car, there was another car behind them and Deeks nodded to the driver. "Who's that?" Vance asked.

"Bodyguards, Vasilie and Daniel Comescu, Callen's cousins." Deeks said.

Vance nodded warily and climbed into the back seat with Grace.

Within 20 minutes they pulled up outside the beach house, a young man stood at the gate a concealed gun in a holster, Vance got out of the car and Grace stopped in her tracks…"My God he looks just like G?" she said stunned.

Vance looked at the young man and had to agree the look was uncanny. "Maybe a cousin?" Vance said to her as they followed Kensi and Deeks into the house.

Greg walked in behind them, and they all stopped as Sam stood at the door, "Director Vance, did you bring the real Comescu file with you?" he asked.

Vance nodded, "I did Agent Hanna, but it's been a long flight, I was hoping to rest first." He admitted.

"We have a problem with Callen," Sam said he looked worried and tired and Kensi and Deeks looked at each other, this was not a look they had seen on Sam before.

"He's been activated hasn't he?" Grace said.

"Who are you?" Sam asked concerned.

Grace shrugged, "Two days ago I would have told you I was Grace Stevens', today I'm not so sure."

* * *

"LANEY!" Callen's voice screamed behind them and Grace pushed through, past Sam and ran up to Callen.

It didn't matter that they were meeting again since they were teenagers, having seen this house for Grace all of that, the hurt the training, the fear, all disappeared. This house was familiar and Grace having heard her old name…it came flooding back and she wrapped her arms around her twin brother, "Shhh…G, it's alright I'm here."

Callen tucked his head in his sisters embrace, "I didn't know Grace I swear, I didn't know, we would have run away, we could have made it back here….before….before…" he struggled again against his bonds, "Kill me Laney, don't let me kill him….please…" he begged.

Alexa ran over and wrapped the twins in her arms, "Ilena, Gregori, it will be alright, just trust in Sam, hang on a bit longer please."

Vance put the case down on the table and pulled the whole file, "There is something in here about activating Operation Comescu, but not what it was."

Callen struggled to breathe and calmed himself down, "You were right, It is about me…I am Operation Comescu, I was ….trained…to kill my …fa…father, I am to kill him and my…self…" he struggled against his bonds and himself as he told them.

"Why?" Grace asked.

"He killed my mother…Shot her on the beach in cold blood." Callen spat.

"No he didn't?" Alexa said, "Your mother died in childbirth." She said.

"C…Clara…Clara Callen…was shot…by …my…by…?" Callen looked around, "I need to fulfill my mission, I need…" Grace reached into her bag, and stuck a needle in Callen's neck and swayed slightly as he passed out.

"It's ok, it's a sedative, he needs to rest or he will fight himself to death," Grace said, "It's a requirement to carry one, all Factory Agents have one, you check G's bag he'll have on to use on me or Hunter, She'll have one too, has she been searched?" she asked.

Sam shook his head, "We tied her up and put her in with Hetty, we think it was something Hunter said to G, which set him off."

* * *

Alexa walked over to her little sister, "Ilena…do you remember me?"

Grace nodded, "I think so…I have been told so many things but this house, you…I think I remember, I think I remembered something when I first met G, which was why I was so drawn to him." She said.

Alexa held out her arms, "I am sorry little sister," she said as she pulled Grace into a hug, "I am sorry we could not find you and G." She cried as she held her, finally her family was together again, something she hadn't seen since her 13th birthday.

They sat for an hour and talked as Alexa filled her little sister in about her father and G's family and how much the twins had been missed.

Vance looked down at his files, "I think, I need to see Hetty," Vance said looking at the files.  
Callen stirred as he fought through the sedative, "Laney…?" he croaked, he wasn't fighting the restraints but his hand was reaching out, without thinking Grace squatted down beside him and held his hand.

"I'm here G…" she said.

He sighed, " _ **Bad dream Laney**_ …" he said in Romani. Grace smiled as did Alexa.

"What did he say?" Deeks asked as the others smiled and Grace moved to hug him.

"He said he had a bad dream…Hopefully soon the nightmare will be over." Grace said.

Callen blinked and leaned towards Grace not thinking, he looked up at her and jumped away… "Laney...you need to leave, it's not safe here, I'm not safe." He said.

"I gave you the failsafe, you'll be ok for a few hours," Grace said cutting at his bonds.

"No…Not mine…mine's fake…swapped it!" Callen warned her.

Grace shook her head, "No, G. mine…but that's good to know little brother." She smiled, "And I'm sure Hunter still has hers."

"Hunter is a factory kid?" Callen asked.

Grace nodded, "Yeah…Deeks here, too?"

"Me?!" Deeks asked, "I'm a what?"

"Deeks?" Callen looked at him, "He's too young."

"Hetty's special last intake kids," Grace said as Deeks sat in the chair next to Callen.

"What is a factory kid?" Deeks asked.

Callen shook his head; he had been tortured the most and couldn't even talk about it.

Grace pulled a chair up and looked at Deeks, "You shot your father when you were eleven, right?" she asked.

Deeks looked down and nodded, "Yeah, my old man was abusive and a drunk, he beat me and my mom, I was trying to stop him from killing her, my mom was a drug addict."

"No they weren't, not originally were they?" Grace asked as Kensi moved to stand behind him.

Deeks shook his head, "Until I was six they were great, I remember doing a test in school and getting the highest grades in the school." We went out for a celebration…they disappeared for an hour, I remember being scared and a woman coming and talking to me, she gave me puzzles to do until they got back, but they started fighting afterwards, that was the first night Brandel hit me." His voice had dropped to a whisper.

"They sent me off to a camp, for kids like me to learn to use weapons responsibly." Deeks said.

"I'm sorry," Grace said, "You were recruited, we did those tests at six…Do you remember G?"

Callen shook his head, "I never did any tests." He said.

* * *

"That was because the program was built around you." Hunter said as she and a gagged Hetty were brought into the room. "You were in the program whether you passed the test or not, Deeks was the last one recruited, he passed  _his_  test he shot _his_ father….why is yours still alive?" Hunter snapped.

Alexa pushed her unceremoniously into a chair as Vance moved into view.

"Director Vance?" Hunter said, "You have to save me, they have kidnapped me and Hetty, they are Comescu's…I…."

"Save it Hunter." Vance said and turned to Alexa. "Why is Hetty gagged?" he asked.

"My orders." Callen said, "If Hunter can trigger me with a phrase, I don't know what it was she said, maybe Hetty could have done the same to Hunter, my orders are to kill my father and then myself, if hers is to kill herself we won't have her testimony."

Vance nodded, "Henrietta, do you have a phrase that will make agent hunter kill herself?" Vance asked.

Hetty shook her head, she looked smaller than normal, she mumbled as if to say no.

Vance looked at Callen who nodded and he untied the gag, Alexa untied Hetty and handed her a drink of water, "You say anything to harm my brother or sister and I will kill you." She warned.

Grace smiled at her big sister and moved to stand near Callen, "Aunt Hetty." She said flatly.

"Grace?" Hetty said shocked.

"Ilena, I think…" Grace looked at G who nodded.

"You two were never meant to meet again." She said he voice quivering, "This wasn't supposed to happen."

Callen stood up shakily and walked towards Hetty pushing past Vance, "No…what was supposed to happen was that I was supposed to grow up with my twin sister, I was supposed to have a name, go to school, learn the business, have my family, watch my children grow up…not…not what you arranged for me…not the horror and torture you and Clara decided should be my life, what gives you the right to rip two children from their family and destroy their lives."

"Ilena wasn't totally taken from her family, I gave her to her grandfather, he didn't want you Gregori, no one wanted you, you were born for one purpose only to take down the Comescu family, Amy knew her job, it was her job to sleep with your father and create you to take the family down." Hetty snapped.

Callen took a step back and was held by Alexa and Grace. "You're lying." he snarled.

Vance took his spot, "I have been reading up on the full file, the unredacted version, that you and Clara Callen came up with."

"It needed to end Leon; it was a necessity at the time." Hetty said her voice full of regret.

"Why go ahead with kidnapping and child endangerment?"

"She was my cousin, my uncle, her grandfather was killed by a Comescu, they were trafficking people and George Callen tried to stop it, it was for the greater good."

"They were smuggling people out of Poland in world war two, Jews and Gypsies, they were not trafficking people." Alexa said.

"I know what happened!" Hetty snapped "I was there."

"And that justifies all you did to me…taking me from my family…the homes, the abuse…DAVIS!" Callen snapped back at her.

"It was needed, but yes Mr. Callen…I regret it." Hetty lied.

"My name is Gregori Comescu…NOT CALLEN!" He shouted at her, "That was the name of your whipping boy, I am not him!"

Even Vance jumped at the venom in his tone.

Grace walked up to her and looked at her sadly, "I trusted you, I thought you were family, I thought you cared about me, you let me stay with you, you spent time with me, you comforted my nightmares, you helped me buy my first house…Why?"

"You two were intrinsically linked. When Gregori was hurt you would feel it, when he was scared you would feel afraid, when you wanted something, sometimes I would find him looking for what you had told me you wanted." Hetty explained, "When I saw you looking through magazines because you had a longing to go to Russia, a country you had never visited I knew it was Gregori's longing, I looked back through his cases and found out about Anya Petrovitch, I traced her and found out about the twins and realized Callen was looking into his past, if he had come here…well, this would happen."

Grace had slumped in a chair, "P...Petrovitch…as in Sergei Petrovitch?"

Hetty nodded.

"His daughter is dead." Grace said with a shocked look on her face, "All he wants it to kill Dmitri Lenkov."

"Me, why?" Callen asked, all eyes turned to him.

"You were Dmitri Lenkov?" Grace asked.

Callen nodded, "Yeah… I went undercover in the 80's met Anya…fell in love and well, she's the mother of my twin children."

"You have children?" Vance said stunned.

Callen nodded as Alexa called up the stairs and Ami and Greg came down.

"Papa?" Ami asked looking at all the strangers, "What's going on?"

"I want you to meet my boss, Director Vance; this is Amilena and Gregori Comescu III. My children." Callen said with a smile ignoring the look of horror on Hetty's face.

Vance smiled at them. "And Anya?" Vance asked.

"She's upstairs nursing my father; he had a stroke when I was shot on Venice Beach. We had it wrong; Ethan Stanhope was actually not behind it, was he Hetty." Callen said turning to her again.

* * *

Hetty shook her head, how could this all be coming down around her ears again, "Who ordered the hit on me Hetty?" Callen asked walking towards her, his hand flexing as he tried to keep his cool.

"WHO ordered the hit on me?" He asked again.

Hetty looked down, "It was…Davis." She said and Callen staggered back.

"No! He's dead you're lying…!" He fell into a chair, he couldn't believe it.

"Davis has always worked for the Company, we tried twice to pull you into line, Stanhope worked for the Factory and Davis was his team leader."

Callen was shaking as Hetty let this information out, Davis was dead, he had to be dead…he was told he was dead?

"No…please…" Callen fell to his knees as his tears fell.

"Agent Callen is this a trigger word?" Vance asked worried as Grace and Sam helped him up.

Grace looked at Vance, "I don't know?" she answered truthfully.

Hetty smiled she had nothing left to lose, "My husband is not dead, and I can promise you Mr. Callen if you don't continue your mission and let me walk out of here, I know he will find you and finish what he started."

Callen grabbed Sam's gun and pointed it at the diminutive woman's head, "I should kill you!" Callen growled. All trace of the man Callen was, was gone, what was left was scared and angry.

"Your choice." Hetty said her voice flat.

Callen turned and pointed the gun at the others, "She leaves." He said his voice shaking.

Vance took a step towards him and Callen shot a hole in the floor by his feet, "Please Director, She has to go."

Callen turned to Hetty, "Does…does he kn...know you are here?" Callen asked. His voice quivering.

Hetty smiled, "Of course dear, he's my husband so he knows everything I do. Look to your left." She said.

Callen shot a look out of the window and he shook with terror, Davis was standing there, alive and as bold as brass, holding the door open of his rental car smiling at him.

"Will you fulfill your mission?" Hetty said.

Callen shook his head, "I can't…please…don't make me…"

The others drew their guns and pointed them at Hetty.

"Callen, I will leave here and you will come with us, or I will call him inside, I'm sure there are secrets you do not want your family or your team to know about."

Vance was shocked this was not the Hetty Lange he had signed off as operations manager, this was someone completely different.

Callen looked at Laney, and Alexa, and as he turned he saw the scared faces of his children on the stairs. He stopped unable to move and Hetty moved closer and whispered in his ear.

All the color drained out of his face and he nodded in submission.

"Go…" he said, he turned, shot Hunter twice in the chest and ran out after Hetty leaving the team, his family and Director Vance stunned in his wake.

 


	18. Chapter 18

The twins moved towards the door as Callen backed out with his gun drawn, "Sam…Stop them!" Callen begged, Hetty tugged on his arm and he walked backwards up the path casting a glance up at his father's room, he saw his father looking from his vantage point in his bed and Anya tears streaming down her face looking from the other window.

'I'm sorry.' He mouthed, 'I love you.' He couldn't stop his tears from falling as he walked up to the car; Davis leant down and kissed Hetty as Callen shuddered.

"Get in Callen." Hetty ordered and took the gun off him.

Realizing he had no choice he climbed in the back seat and slumped in defeat, and relief. His family was safe, and as the car drove further and further away from his father's home the urge to complete his mission wore off.

"Just so you know Callen, if you go back there at any time, now you've been activated you will have to fulfill your programming the only way you'll keep them safe is to never go home again."

Callen's heart tore in two as they drove away and it was all he could do not to howl in pain. Instead he stared out the window sightlessly and allowed silent tears to flow.

* * *

Sam held Ami as she screamed after her father as the car drove off, Greg held her as well as they both sobbed.

"Can you not stop her?" Alexa asked Director Vance.

"No…but I can…" Lauren Hunters voice came from the floor.

They looked over surprised, Callen had shot her in the chest, and they had seen the bullets go in and watched her go down.

Sam moved over as she was still tied to a chair and helped her into a sitting position.

Lauren shook her head out of her eyes, "Ow," she said as her head hurt where she had collided with the floor.

"How are you not dead?" Kensi asked.

Hunter shot her a look, "Bullet proof vest, Callen put it on me before I went in with Hetty." She told them.

"So he knew you weren't going to die?" Grace said walking up to her and looking her over.

Lauren nodded, "I knew Hetty might try something like this, despite what you all think of me I owe Callen,"

"But he didn't know who you were?" Sam said, it was true when they had met up Callen didn't know who she was and he had been as confused by her as they had.

"He remembered, it was between me and him, all I will tell you is I owe him, now, Untie me." Hunter said.

"No way!" Deeks replied.

"Stevens?" Hunter said, "This is Callen's plan…kind of?"

* * *

Grace got a knife out of her belt and cut her bonds; Hunter pulled her arms in front of her and rubbed her wrists.

"Look Callen wasn't sure he wasn't triggered to kill me so he made me put on a vest, he wants me to give testimony against Hetty and the factory, he didn't want me dead, but now Hetty thinks I am, it will be easier for me as she won't be trying to kill me every five minutes." Hunter snapped.

"Why did you pretend to be me?" Grace asked.

"The laptop." Lauren said.

"You can't have it." Alexa snapped.

"What Laptop?" Vance asked.

"It has all the details of everything I have gathered about my brother and sisters' abduction, all we learned about the factory and the people behind it. Names. Dates…places, that sort of thing." Alexa said as she walked across the room to the twins and gathered them up in her arms.

"Lexi…Papa's gone, he promised he wouldn't leave." Ami cried.

Greg stood there much like his father, his face stoic but his eyes stormy, he wanted to take a car and go looking for him, but he knew that wasn't possible.

"So you have the evidence I need?" Vance asked Alexa.

She nodded, "However this does not get my brother back from that mad woman, and you will not get the laptop until you do and he is safe." She said, it was her only bargaining chip and she was going to use it.

"I need a laptop…Any laptop." Hunter said as she stood up. She stopped as four guns were pointed at her. "It's to find Callen." She said.

Greg went over to a cupboard and got his laptop out, "Use this…find my father." He growled placing the laptop in front of her.

"There are four factory kids left," Hunter said as she started up the laptop. "To keep tabs on us the factory implanted us with tracker chips. That way we couldn't run away or in Callen and Grace's case get too near home." She said.

She pulled up a hidden webpage and three dots appeared on a Google map layover, one dot was further away and moving. "These three are myself, Grace and Deeks. The one moving is Callen." She said.

"So we can track him?" Sam asked.

Hunter nodded, "Yeah, it's rudimentary; it hasn't been updated much since its inception in the 80's Hetty wrote the program for the tracking chips. Callen had the first one, I think she had Davis inject it into him in '82, he kept trying to run away and Hetty couldn't allow that." She said.

"I've got one of those inside me?" Deeks asked looking pale.

Even though Hunter could see the spot on the screen she picked up a mirror that lay on the side and handed it to Deeks, "Small scar behind the right ear." She said.

He picked up the mirror and walked to the mirror on the wall to see the scar, sure enough it was there.

"Get it out!" Deeks said scared.

Kensi walked over to him and put her hands on his shoulders, "Don't worry, we will as soon as we get Callen back." She assured him.

Deeks nodded worried and walked back over to the table.

Vance handed Sam his gun, "I think you might need this." He said.

Sam smiled, "Finally a decent weapon." He grinned.

"They've stopped." Hunter said as she noticed the car not moving anymore.

"Where are they?"

"Cobadin, District number 3" she said,

"I know that, it's not too far from here." Greg said. "I'll get my car." He said.

"You're not going anywhere." Anya's voice came from the doorway, "Your father told me Hetty might plan something, and he made me promise that you both would stay here, safe." She said.

"But mama?!" Greg argued, "I can shoot, I can drive, he's my father I want to help."

Anya put her hand on her son's shoulder, "I know Greg, and believe me I know. But you have to have patience."

Greg sighed and stormed off upstairs, "Ami…watch him." Anya said. She turned to the others, "I'm sorry; when he gets upset he tends to go off on his own."

The others nodded in understanding. "G's the same way," Sam told her,

"Ok," Vance said, "We need to get there, arrest Hetty and Davis and bring Callen home."

Lauren nodded and pulled up the Google map of the Area, "The tracker chip is coming from in here." She said pointing to an old looking house down the road from a small local garage.

"But if we can track them, can't Hetty track us?" Deeks asked.

"I don't think she has access to a laptop." Hunter said. "But we don't have time to take the trackers out, we need to find Callen."

They nodded, checked their collective ammunition, which had gone down a lot since Poland. Alexa brought a box from the back of the house and put it on the table, "All in working order and all untraceable." She said with a slight smirk.

Sam smiled; the longer he was here the more he could see where G's mannerisms came from.

"Thank you," he said as he took an extra gun and ammunition and moved for the others to do so as well.

They were surprised when Vance reached in and grabbed a weapon too.

"You're coming Director?" Kensi asked.

Vance gave a wry smile, "I was a field agent before I was the Director Agent Blye, maybe you'll learn a few things," he grinned.

* * *

Davis pulled up outside the house and turned his gun on Callen, "Out boy." He said.

Callen moved out of the car and stood as Davis waited for Hetty to catch up with him.

"Is he safe now?" Davis asked.

Hetty, nodded, "He won't be activated from here." She reassured her husband.

"Good." He replied. "Inside boy." He said waving his gun in the direction of the house, "Remember you try anything and those pretty little kids of yours will be mine." He snarled.

Callen was still in shock over the fact that not only was Davis alive, but he was married to Hetty, which means she arranged for him to stay with Davis in the first place, He was running on autopilot right now.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked Hetty.

She smiled a cold cruel smile that made him shudder, "I love my husband, but he has needs I cannot fulfill, you however needed to be taught to behave and fit his bill perfectly. It's not like I really cared about you, you are a Comescu after all." She snapped.

"I haven't forgotten you." Davis said walking behind him and stroking his face, Callen flinched away in terror. Part of him was screaming, 'You're an NCIS agent, you were trained for this, you can kill him!'

But another part, a stronger part was reciting the Factory mantra that he'd had drummed into him, 'Your job as an Agent is to do things other Agents would not be able to do, you are worthless, no one cares about you, your job is to die to save another agent, your body and mind belong to the agency to use as they wish, be it another agent or a suspect, if we deem it right to abuse your body you will not fight it. You are to do as you are ordered, you belong to us.'

As if Davis could see into his mind he snarled, "If we deem it right to abuse your body you will not fight it, you are to do as you are ordered, you belong to us."

Hetty smiled and put the kettle on for a cup of tea as Callen's stomach lurched.

"I'll make something to eat dear, you…" she waved her hand in the direction of a room at the back, "Enjoy…" she smiled.

Without a thought she turned to the kitchen and started pulling out things to make a meal with, she loved this little house, it had always been close enough that she could see Anya and Ami in the market, see the sadness in the young woman's eyes as she struggled with bringing up her children without their father, and she had watched them grow putting everything she could in Callen's path to stop him finding her, even to the point that she had brought him a house and then charged him twice the price she paid so he couldn't afford to go and look for her.

She had enjoyed every moment when he had been injured and had practically leapt with glee when she had been offered the post of operations manager after his shooting.

* * *

Callen entered the room and before he knew what had happened he was hit over the back of the head with a large piece of wood. He groaned and fell to his knees; he felt sick and dizzy, concussion. He thought.

Davis laughed, "You thought you'd be able to fight me didn't you boy, I'm too fast for you and my wife is kind enough to supply me with all I need, and she knows because I've been telling her for years how much I needed to see you again." He grinned walking over to a nightstand and pulling out a small black box, he opened it and Callen saw a needle and despite his pain tried to move away.

"No…!" he groaned, images of the sunken graves in the bottom of the basement of Davis' house flew through his mind, he couldn't hold back the tears as he recalled the images from the file he had been given, since 1982 every boy Davis had killed had had blond hair and blue eyes.

He tried to punch Davis as he crawled away and Davis laughed as he caught him by the scruff of the neck and injected him.

"What?" Callen tried to ask as he started to lose his equilibrium.

Davis leaned so he was right by his ear, "Rohypnol. You're mine boy remember…what do you say?" he asked.

"No…" Callen tried shaking his head.

Davis smacked his head against the bedpost, "WHAT DO YOU SAY!" he yelled at him.

"Yours master…" Callen replied feeling bereft and defeated. He couldn't go home or see his family again what did he have to live for.

"Remember that." Davis snapped and smiled as Callen passed out face down on the bed.

Hetty walked in the room and looked at Callen on the bed, a small smile of satisfaction at his injuries. "Are busy my love, I have made a meal, however if you wish to continue…" she left it open for him.

Davis shook his head, "I'm free right now, he's unconscious, I prefer it when he's awake enough to scream." He smiled and kissed her again, "So shall we eat?" he followed her out without a backward glance at the man on the bed.

* * *

Greg had given Sam the key to his car, he, Grace, Kensi and Vance were in the car, and Deeks was following on Ami's motorbike with a helmet on and a loud whoop of happiness as he followed the others.

They headed towards district three as fast as they could without breaking traffic laws; Kensi in the back was holding the laptop and could see that Callen's blip hadn't moved for the past hour.

"He still hasn't moved do you think he's been tied up?" she asked.

"I dunno Kens." Sam said, "I hope she hasn't killed him."

"Or worse…" Grace said shaking a little, she had heard rumors about Davis, she knew what Callen had done to put Hunter in his debt, and she was proud of him, but Davis was the boogieman, in the factory, there had been a tape of Callen's first visit to Davis and his tear stained face and screams would haunt her forever, but she would never tell of the existence of the tape, for his sake, worse for her had been the nightmares she'd had of his experiences, things he would never tell but as his twin she knew anyway.

"I'm sure G can overpower Hetty." Sam said trying to give them some hope. "Davis is old and Callen is a trained Agent, what can he do….Really?" he asked.

Grace burst into tears, "Don't ask…just don't ask…there was….it was awful." She wiped her eyes and pulled herself together, "Just drive Sam." She growled and checked her gun.

* * *

They pulled up a little way down the road at the back of a small gas station.

Deeks got off the bike and jogged over to the car, "So where is it?" he asked.

Sam pointed to Davis' car that was parked outside a small rural house.

"According to this, Hetty owns the house and has been coming here for years," Kensi said.

Sam smiled he forgot how gifted Kensi was with computers sometimes.

"We take it carefully," Vance said, "We need to contact the local police, Agent Stevens' could you facilitate that for me?" he asked.

Grace nodded and pulled out her cell phone.

Sam looked at Kensi, "You and Deeks go scope out the house, make sure Hetty doesn't see you." He said,

Kensi smiled, "Sure, Come on Deeks."

They walked towards the house keeping out of sight of the windows.

Deeks pointed to a small hole in the fence, "There." He said, Kensi nodded in agreement and they went through the hole to the small yard out the back.

Hetty was putting the dishes away and smiled as she heard Callen scream from the backroom, she hated Comescu's with every breath in her body and his screams were like music to her ears. she carried on humming happily.

Davis had walked in while Callen was still unconscious and had tied him up to the bed, he stripped him down to his boxers and climbed on top of him, Callen started to stir, just as Davis lit up a cigar, the smoke acting like smelling salts and waking him.

He screamed as Davis found one of his bullet hole scars and pressed the lit cigar into it.

Davis smiled and licked him causing Callen to squirm out of the way, "No!" he groaned half heartedly the Rohypnol still in his system.

Davis laughed, "You still feel like you have a choice, maybe I should go back and steal that petty little girl of yours, make you watch as I show her what I did to her daddy when he was a boy."

Callen pulled at his bonds, "NO!" he yelled. "Leave them alone!" his emotions were all messed up and he was thrashing and crying with frustration.

"Or maybe that sister of yours, Laney isn't it…she's pretty just like you…oh and Deeks…Deeks is so so…much like you I wonder if he screams like you."

Callen slipped a hand free and smacked Davis in the face.

"You bastard you'll pay for that." Davis hit him back and Callen spat blood as Davis hit his ribs again and again until Callen could hardly breathe.

* * *

From the back window, Kensi put her hand over her mouth and turned away burying her face in Deeks' chest and pushing him out of the hole in the fence.

"We can't wait for the police." She said, "We need to go in now…he's….He's…." she turned and vomited on the grass beside the house, "God…Deeks…I…I can't…" she pulled her gun and Deeks pulled her back.

"Fine you say we need to go, I trust you partner, but we go get Vance and the others first, Callen's tough he'll hold on." Deeks said having faith in him.

Davis had had enough of playing with him, his face hurt and just hitting Callen wasn't making him feel better, he untied him and as Callen tried to move away he got the piece of wood he'd hit him with the first time and took a step towards him, "Batter up!" he grinned and took a swing at him, laughing as Callen fell as the wood connected with his back.

"Run away from this boy." Davis laughed as he hit him again and again, until Callen was a bloody mess, curled in a fetal position in the corner, moaning but unable to move.

"Pathetic," Davis spat, "You're no fun boy, I'm gonna get a drink…then I'm back to make your ass mine." He chuckled at his joke as he slammed the door shut.

Hetty looked up, "it still with us?" she asked with a sigh.

"Blubbering like a baby, I want him tonight, you will stay out here and not get in my way you hear woman." He snarled.

She looked at him like he was the most perfect man on earth, "Yes dear, as long as you are happy I am…Tea?" she offered.

He shot her a look and reached for a beer. "I don't drink that swill," he said he sat down and patted the seat beside him. She moved over and snuggled under his arm, ignoring the sobbing groans that she could hear from the other room.

She pulled out a travel plan, "We are moving tomorrow, is he coming with us?" she hoped not, but she knew better than to defy the only man to really love her.

"If he's alive there's no sense wasting him, he'll fit in the trunk fine." He said and laughed again. "If not we'll throw the trash out with the trash."

He took another sip of beer and relaxed.

 


	19. Chapter 19

He hated being alone, he could hear them talking in the other room, and he pulled at his bonds.

His head was still swimming like an overactive hangover, which he realized that this had to be the Rohypnol working through his system, either that or Davis had hit him harder than he thought around his head.

He looked at the broken plaster on the ceiling, this was definitely not like any of the other homes that Hetty had, and he didn't understand why she had a house so close to where his family lived.

His family…his heart ached at the thought of never seeing them again, it had been only a few days since he'd found out who he really was and he had met his children, he tried desperately to see their faces in his mind, he didn't want to lose that image, his sisters, his father and most importantly Anya…sweet sweet Anya who had endured so much and still had waited in hope that he would come back to them, and now he never could, he hurt in every bone in his body, he was tired and because of the damn conditioning he'd been given at the factory, if he saw his father he would try and kill him, and then himself, there was no hope that he could see and he knew it. He stopped struggling with his bonds and his injures and lay lax on the floor, there was no hope and he knew it so why fight, let Davis and Hetty do what they wanted he had no reason to fight anymore.

He shuddered as another wave of pain went over him and he let the tears flow out he didn't think the others would try and find him, as he wasn't worth fighting for, he was a Comescu, they were the enemy, Hetty had been their leader for so long, they hadn't gone to Poland to follow him, they didn't follow him to Romania, they were there for Hetty. She was their irreplaceable leader, he was replaceable, expendable.

His head swam as he lay there; he had no job, no family, no hope…

* * *

Sam gripped the steering wheel in frustration, it was getting dark and the local authorities hadn't shown up, "We need to go get them." Sam snapped. "We can't leave him there much longer."

Vance nodded; the local police had had more than enough time to send a car.

He looked at Grace who was looking sleepy, "Ms Steven's are you alright?" he asked

Grace shook her head, "Yeah…I'm fine…I think, I dunno I just feel…lost and I can't clear my head."

Sam handed her a bottle of water, "Drink this…it might help." He offered.

Grace took it and had a sip, "Thanks." She smiled.

"Agent Hanna, we should head to the nearest police station, maybe we can find out what's going on."

"I saw one about a mile down the road." Deeks said.

Sam nodded, he remembered seeing it too, and he turned on the engine and looked out the window at Deeks and Kensi, "Keep an eye on the house, make sure they don't leave." He said and they both nodded and moved back as the car with Sam, Grace and Vance in peeled out of its parking spot and headed to the police station.

* * *

Draga Martinescu sat at his desk his fingers sitting in the request that had come through hours earlier.

Someone wanted to raid the house of Hetty Pavlenko. She was well known to the authorities in Romania, she was ruthless and cunning and a very scary woman. She was also very rich and paid a lot of money to keep his department running, it was lucrative for him to turn a blind eye every once in a while when she came to town. He knew she worked for the CIA and maybe a few other agencies in America she was it was said a very, very dangerous woman, and all his contacts had agreed that it was best to accommodate her wishes.

Draga sighed he had always thought maybe that she was behind the abduction of the Comescu twins, it had been his first case as a rookie officer, she had scared the life out of him when she had informed him that he would be better working on a different case and leaving this one alone. He had wanted to go to Gregori Comescu and tell him about her, but every time he thought of it he would get a message, a bunch of flowers, a letter, a broken window on his car, things that told him, and he didn't know how, but she was watching and she seemed to know every time his resolve broke.

He looked up as he heard foreign voices in the main room of the police station, the voices seemed angry and loud, so he holstered his gun and went to the front desk.

"I need to see who is in charge!" Vance said to the poor man standing behind the desk.

" _ **It's ok Micah, I will see to these men**_ ," Draga said.

Micah looked relieved and moved over to complete his paperwork. For once glad he had a pile of it.

"I am Draga Martinecsu, chief in this sector, can I help you?" he asked in English.

"Director Leon Vance, NCIS. I sent a request in for assistance to rescue a kidnapped Agent, We have been waiting and you haven't sent anyone."

"I am sorry Director Vance, but your NCIS does not have jurisdiction in this district, our chief of police gave orders not to help you."

"And who is he?" Vance asked hoping to talk to him.

"It is a woman, Henrietta Pavlenko. She works for your American government we know you must be making a mistake; she supplies a great deal of money to keep this district running."

"She is the woman, who has taken my agent and his currently holding him hostage." Vance snapped.

Draga took out his note book.

"And your agent's name?" he asked.

"Agent G. Callen…" Vance said.

"No!" Grace moved to stand with them, "His name is Gregori Comescu." She had no idea why she needed to reveal that information but she did.

"And you are?" He looked at her suspiciously.

"Ilena Comescu, Gregori's twin sister." She said proudly.

Draga took a step back, "You…you were my first case?" he said shocked, "You found your way back?" he asked.

Grace nodded, "Please, I know you did your best to help us when we were first taken, please, the same person who took us has my brother now, and she is hurting him, please help us." She teared up and Draga was visibly moved.

"Who…who took you?" Draga asked needing closure on his original case.

"Hetty Lange, also known as Henrietta Pavlenko." Grace prayed silently that this worked.

Draga looked angry; he realized Pavlenko had played him.

"I will give you what you need, Henrietta Pavlenko will be taken down and I will finish my first case." He said determinedly, he started shouting orders and within ten minutes he had all three officers and were heading back towards the house.

* * *

Kensi had made her way back through the hole in the fence and had squatted down behind the slightly open window; she didn't want to call in to Callen in case she was spotted. She moved a few times as the shadows lengthened and the sun went down, but she sat and heard his sobs, wishing that he knew that the team wouldn't leave him behind.

Davis got up from the sofa and kissed his wife, "You will need to pack, we will not take the boy he will slow us down, I can get all I need done tonight, Tonight he will learn that he would never have won."

Hetty smiled, "Have fun, I will pack and sort out some food for the journey," she got up and headed to the kitchen, packing up her beloved teapot to make sure it made the trip.

Davis opened the door to the room where Callen was curled up on the floor.

"BOY!" he yelled.

Not even thinking Callen moved to his knees, head down his ribs burning with the movement.

Davis smiled, "Good…Good, you remember. I thought you'd like to know, I gave you a gift."

Callen looked at him lifting his head slightly but not talking, talking gets you punished, which was not a good plan.

"I know you are worried about your family, I didn't want you to worry, so Hetty and I took care of it."

He looked concerned but said nothing.

"We blew up the house, they are all dead. Your girl, your sisters, your father and your children…like little charcoal briquettes." he laughed. "I watched as your father screamed as he tried to move from his sick bed and couldn't." he grinned.

Callen slumped face forwards his urge to vomit and scream overwhelming him.

"Let me hear it." Davis said smirking.

Callen screamed from the bottom of his soul all the anguish and pain making itself audible. Outside Kensi and Deeks looked at each other horrified, they had no idea what was going on inside the room, but that was a sound they never wanted to hear again.

Callen slumped back on his knees, he was an empty shell now, and there was nothing left to fight for.

"We will be leaving soon, but I give you one last gift, I will leave you this." He put a gun on the bed, "You may have one bullet, you cannot take both myself or my wife with it, but you can use it to join your family." He left it on the bed and Callen looked up at him, wanting so desperately to move and reach it.

"Please…" he whispered.

Davis smiled, "Soon boy, soon…I want you to scream some more." He smiled and leaned over to close the window.

In the kitchen Hetty finished packing the bags and put the kettle on for one last cup of tea before they left, hearing Callens sobs she smiled, Davis must have delivered his 'good' news. There was more noise from the room, groaning, screaming, pleading and the sounds of what she assumed was Callen being beaten.

She may not have been able to get her revenge on the Comescu's but finding his son and then losing him again hopefully would send the Elder Comescu over the edge and into hell.

She sipped her tea as Callen's screams permeated the house, "Hear that Clara…Sweet revenge for you my cousin."

* * *

Deeks tapped Kensi on the shoulder as Sam's car came into view, it wasn't until she turned he could see she'd been crying, and it wasn't until she turned she could see he had too. He pulled her into a brief hug, "It's going to be ok." Deeks said although after the screams they had heard he wasn't sure how.

They ran towards Sam, hoping that the other unmarked cars pulling up were the police and not another thing to worry about.

"Sam…we have to get in there now…he was screaming…and…" Kensi broke down as the others got out of the car.

"Ok Kensi tell me what you know." Sam said.

"Hetty is in the front of the house, I'm not sure doing what, I thought if she saw us she'd be gone by now but Callen…Callen has been in one of the back bedrooms with Davis…He was screaming… it was awful." She shuddered as she gave her report.

Grace loaded up her gun, "We're going in now…yes?!" she looked at Vance as if to dare him to stop her from getting her brother.

"Yes we are going in….or not?" Vance said as the front door of the house opened and Hetty and Davis carrying 2 bags walked out of the house.

"Hetty Lange…Davis…you are under arrest!" Vance said pulling his gun on them followed quickly by the others.

"Where is Callen?" Deeks asked.

Hetty smiled, "You're too late," she said as Deeks put cuffs on her.

* * *

Sam and Grace followed by Vance ran into the building as the backup officers took Hetty and Davis and processed them.

They went straight to the back room to find Callen covered in blood sitting with his knees drawn to his chest staring down the barrel of a gun.

"G?!" Sam stopped holding out his arm to stop the others lest they scared him into pulling the trigger.

"I have nothing Sam…it's all gone…I'm all gone…" Callen sobbed

"No…G…it's not gone…you still have a family, you can go back."

"Not dead?" Callen asked still focusing on his gun.

"No G, they miss you and they want you home."

Callen didn't believe him.

"I don't have a home Sam." Callen sighed tears still falling but his eyes not moving an inch off that gun. "I can't go back there…they are in danger."

"From who?" Grace asked behind Sam.

At her voice Callen looked up, his eyes were dead and Grace knelt at his feet. "From me Laney, from me…she said…she said…" Callen sobbed.

"She lied, let's get you home." She said.

"Is Kell's ok?" Callen asked.

Grace shrugged having no idea what he was talking about.

Sam reached out and took the gun from Callen's hands, "Let's make you more decent," Sam handed him his pants, and shoes. As Callen turned around, Sam had to keep from Gasping at the burn marks which matched up to his bullet holes.

Carefully Sam helped Callen out the door, he was concerned how quiet Callen was being, it wasn't like him and he was worried.

Hetty and Davis stood together as Callen exited. Davis gave out a large solid grin and the younger man hated that look.

As soon as they were close together Davis gave Callen a jaunty wave, "You can't go home kid and I'll find you again." He grinned as the policeman turned to cuff him and put him in the car.

Callen pulled away from Sam and grabbed his gun, without thinking he shot Davis, four times in the head, as he hit the ground he shot him twice more and kept clicking the gun even though it had run out of bullets. Sam walked up behind him and took the gun. "G? G…he's dead you can stop." Sam said softly.

"No…not sure he's dead…" Callen stood staring at him as he heard an anguished scream from beside him.

Hetty was banging on the window of the car she'd been locked inside.

"NO! Davis!" she screamed trying to get out of her cuffs and over to her husband. "I will kill you Callen, you'll never see your family again, you can't you know what will happen if you go near them…I gave you an option, you should have taken it you ungrateful brat!" she snapped.

Vance turned to Kensi and Deeks, "Go with her, do not let her get released under any circumstances." He ordered.

"You don't know who I am, you don't know what I know….LEON!" Hetty yelled, "You are making a grave mistake."

"I need a moment with her." Callen said to Vance, still not looking in his eyes.

Vance figured if anyone had earned a few moments alone with her, it was Callen. "Very well, but we will be here." He said.

* * *

Callen walked over to Hetty and opened the car door, looking down at her.

"I take it you are going to let me go." She said looking at him like a hawk.

Callen smiled.

"No."

"What?!" Hetty couldn't believe it. "You know what you need to do." She said again.

Callen smiled again, "Oh yeah…" Hetty went white, this was wrong, something was so very very wrong.

"GET HIM AWAY FROM ME!" Hetty screamed as Callen crouched down as if to talk to her.

In actual fact he was getting the knife Davis had dropped in the room that Callen had tucked into his boot as he had gotten dressed, and swiftly and silently he slit her throat before anyone could get to him and then turned the knife and plunged it through her windpipe.

"You know the brain see's for thirty seconds after the head is cut off…in thirty seconds you will be dead and I will have won. I am not Callen…I am Gregori Comescu the second and Hetty Lange, you lost." he whispered so the others couldn't hear.

Her mouth moved as her vision became black the last thing she saw was Callen's smirk as she died.

* * *

Callen stood up and as he moved they suddenly realized Hetty was dead.

Callen dropped the knife and dropped to his knees his hands behind his head. He looked at Sam. "You can shoot me now." He said all emotion gone from his voice as Kensi grabbed Grace who was shaking in terror.

"Sam Don't!" she screamed.

Sam looked at Callen and Vance. "I'm not going to kill you G." he said.

"You have to…you owe me…please?" he asked.

Sam shook his head, "Call…"

"NO DON'T EVER CALL ME THAT!" Callen screamed.

"Gregori, G…please…you will be ok, no one here thinks you didn't deserve to kill them…you are not under arrest…" Vance said, "I would call it extenuating circumstances." He said.

"You can live your life now," Deeks said, "its over."

"I have no life…don't you get it, I want to die…I want to die now!" Callen yelled.

He grabbed the gun out of Deeks' hand and they struggled with it.

The policemen pulled their guns not sure what to do and Sam ran towards Callen as a loud gunshot cracked the air.

"Deeks!"

"G!"

Callen lay back on the asphalt and smiled, "Finally." He sighed as Deeks scrambled away looking horrified as Callen closed his eyes.

 


	20. Chapter 20

They stood around the whole group of them overtaking the waiting room.

Anya, Greg, Ami and Grace stood together, Kensi, Sam and Vance nearby and Deeks stood alone looking out of the window, Hunter walked in with drinks for them all.

"Have you heard anything yet?" she asked.

Vance shook his head, "He's in surgery," he told her.

Hunter looked at Deeks standing alone, Kensi and Sam had tried to talk to him, and even Anya had tried to get him to open up and told him she didn't blame him. He stared over the crowded back streets behind the hospital in Constanta his arms wrapped around his waist; His mind going over and over again that moment when he shot his friend.

He watched as he had looked down and Callen's hand had closed over his on the gun, he had tried his hardest to push Callen's hand off the trigger, but he had felt his finger close and the gun go off.

Worse, much more worse than any of that, was what Callen had whispered in his ear. "Thank you." He had said, no one else had heard it, and he was sure that Callen wouldn't want to wake up, he wouldn't fight and when he died the team would blame him.

Hunter brought him a coffee, "Here…Drink it." She said with a slight smile.

Deeks shook his head, he couldn't think of drinking anything right now, not till he knew either way.

"Thanks, I'm fine," Deeks said his hands balled up inside his hoodie.

"No you're not, at least sit down Marty," Hunter said.

Deeks looked at her, "Since when did you become on our side?" he asked with a weak smile.

Hunter smiled back, "Not on your side Deeks, I'm on Callen's side, always have been, but you're kinda like the youngest of us, listen, I know you didn't want to be dragged into this, but while we are waiting, do you want the implant removed?"

"By you?" he asked worried.

Lauren smiled again, "I have done it before and we are in a hospital."

"Err…maybe when I get back." He said, "Besides I need to be here for when Callen wakes up." He wasn't going to leave and come back to find his team leader was dead.

A nurse came running through and ran back with four orderlies following her as they looked up.

"I hope that is not for papa?" Greg said watching them go.

"I'm sure if it is he will be fine." Grace told her nephew.

Ami moved to comfort her brother and mother; Anya looked over at Deeks who looked away guiltily. "I need to talk to him; he needs to know we do not blame him."

* * *

Callen woke up and he couldn't move.

He pulled at his bonds frantically trying to get away, he thought he had killed Davis and Hetty, but what if he was wrong, he remembered dying, but it seemed fate had played a cruel joke, and he was still tied up on a bed. It had to have been a drug fuelled dream, they were still alive.

"Nooooooo!" he moaned his voice no more than a croak.

"It's alright Mr. Callen, you are in hospital," A voice came floating towards him, he moved away from the voice, He couldn't be alive…he just couldn't.

He flinched as he felt a hand on his face, "Mr. Callen, come back to us?" a voice said

He pulled away, here it was dark and safe, maybe he wasn't dead, but it was less painful than what being awake would bring him.

Suddenly he heard a man's voice "Is the boy here?"

He went from drugged and half asleep to wide awake, in a corner holding a pair of scissors as a weapon, "Stay away from me!" he shouted "No more!" he moved as far into the corner as he could and watched worried as a nurse ran out.

A few moments later she was back with four orderlies, "Please Mr. Callen, we aren't here to hurt you, we want to help."

Callen held the scissors out, "Stay away from me…get me my clothes and let me go." He said ignoring the blinding pain in his stomach.

"You cannot leave, you are not well enough."

"You don't know me…" He gave a sour laugh, "I don't know me…let me go!" he ordered.

The orderlies moved in and Callen fought them like a man possessed, within moments a needle was plunged into his upper arm and he felt woozy again, "No….no more…let me die!" he begged, he couldn't go through Davis hurting him anymore, he had to leave, he tried pulling away and took three steps before collapsing. "Don't let them near me…keep them away, please…"he said as he went down.

The man who had spoken looked at the nurse, "Restrain him to the bed." He decided and signed a form and went off to look for the boy with appendicitis that he had come in to see.

The orderlies tied him to the bed and moved him to a private room.

The nurse went out to the group sitting in the waiting room.

Anya stood up as she saw the nurse and moved towards her. She stood by and waited for the doctor before she talked to the family.

"Family of Callen?" They all turned and looked at Vance who had booked him in.

"I'm sorry," Vance said, "It was a habit, I forgot."

"That's us!" Greg said as he pushed his way forward. "His real name is Gregori Comescu," he told the doctor.

"Ah, a Comescu, a proud family," the doctor said. "I know Gregori Comescu, that man is not him." The doctor looked at them, what was this group of people playing at?

"He is the Second Comescu, the son…" Greg said

The Doctors eyes widened, "The missing son?" he asked, in this region the disappearance of the twins had been front page news for over a year, "That explains a lot, we have him sedated, he tried to kill himself and a nurse when he came round from his operation." The doctor told him.

"He's alive!" Deeks said with undisguised hope in his voice.

The doctor nodded, "The gunshot missed his vital organs, he is obviously traumatized I am going to arrange a psychiatrist to come and see him."

"That's not a good idea Doc," Sam said, "G, doesn't talk to them, we do have our own psychologist that he sees a lot, we can call him to come in, can't we?" Sam said directing the last question at Vance who nodded.

"I will arrange it now." Vance said pulling out his phone and walking away from the group.

* * *

It didn't take him long after he woke up again, three minutes, a small part of him was pleased as he undid the restraints and climbed carefully off the bed. He looked around the room, it was empty apart from the bed, and there was nothing he could use as a weapon to aid his escape or to injure himself with. He tried the door and couldn't open it. He moved into the corner, keeping the door in his eye line and let the pain wash over him as he sank to the floor.

His head was blurry and he wondered if Davis had taken him somewhere else.

It wouldn't be beyond Hetty's skills to set him up in a room that looked like a hospital to mess with his head, he went over and over what he remembered, he had flashes from the factory, flashes of the man he needed to kill, flashes of Davis and the obscenities he had enacted on Callen through the years, not just from recently but from the weekend he was first placed with him and his first Operation with the FBI, trying and now he knew failing to take Davis down…Had Hetty orchestrated it all? He had flashes of the times she had sat with him and listened when he had poured his heart out about his mother…no…not his mother…Clara…was she his mother?

Hetty had seemed like his mother, she had cared…he thought she had cared, she had found him a house, his house…the one place he had felt at home in a family during his whole life…but she had done that for him…hadn't she?

Where was she?

Why wasn't she here?

He had a flashback of her dying, he looked at his hands, they were clean, but for some reason he could see blood on them, he killed her, he killed the one woman he had thought cared about him.

Why?

Slowly it came back to him, He had found his family, she had kept him from his family, she was married to…to…Davis?

He bent over and vomited in the corner as he leant back the flashbacks kept hitting him hit after hit after hit…Alexa, Anya…his children…his sister….his father…his need to kill his father…the fact they were all dead…

He curled up and rocked back and forth trying to comfort the pain in his soul.

Anya his Anya was dead, his children, his beautiful children were dead.

He was alone again, even when he had been shot, there had been someone in the room with him, Sam, Hetty, Kensi, Mike…This time nothing, maybe they hated him, maybe they had been there to rescue Hetty and he had killed her…He didn't know.

The one thing he did know…He didn't want to be alive anymore; he wanted to be with his family. He had spent so much time looking for Anya, to lose her now was unbearable.

Maybe Sam would come, maybe this was all a nightmare, maybe…

He stood up and walked to the window, how high was he?

He managed to open it a crack, it looked like a good ten floors, he'd have time to think on his way down, he pulled at the bars, but they wouldn't give.

He thumped the wall in frustration. He couldn't do this, not while stuck in here.

He pulled the bedding off the bed, tore the sheets into strips, maybe this was his way out, he looked at the ceiling, nothing, not even a light bulb fixing to tie it too…then he had an idea and tipped the bed on its side, reaching up he hooked the strip of cloth over the high head end of the bed and wrapped the other end around his throat.

'Soon…Anya…I'll be with you soon.' He thought, for a second he thought about Sam, but even though he hated the idea of hurting his friend like this he couldn't be alone again.

* * *

Sam had waited and eventually got out of the doctor which room Callen was in, he didn't wait, he knew he should have let Anya and G's family go first, but something was needling his gut, he pushed past the others and ran down the corridor.

He stopped outside the room and looked through the window.

"G!" Sam yelled the others ran after him as Sam not waiting kicked the door in just as Callen let go and started to swing.

"G…No…Stop!" Sam got under him and supported his body.

"No Sam, Stop…" Callen tried to pull away, but Sam held on tighter.

"I'm not going to let you die!" Sam grunted with the effort of holding up his partner.

Callen thrashed underneath him, "Let me die! I can't be alone again." He tried so hard to get away but Sam was so much stronger.

"You're not alone." Sam said, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his penknife and cut the makeshift rope from behind his head, they both fell to the floor panting heavily.

"Can't Sam…they're dead…all my fault."

"They deserved to die," Sam said thinking he was talking about Hetty and Davis.

"No…no they didn't they were so young, my babies…" Callen sobbed into Sam's shoulder.

He looked up as Anya stood in the doorway, her blonde hair illuminated by the sun behind her.

"I'm sorry Anya…I love you so much, you didn't deserve to die because of me." He collapsed back and jumped as she came towards him, he thought she was going to get angry and blame him for her death; instead she knelt beside him and kissed him.

"Anya?" he said he could feel her, taste her and smell her, it was overpowering and he cried.

"Gregori, we are not dead, whoever told you that was lying." She said kissing him her arms tightly around him.

He blinked a few times and pulled away, "Not dead?" He asked, his face fell and he looked scared, "Davis? Hetty?"

"They're dead." Sam said, "Good thing too." He added.

"Come home," Anya said, "We will look after you, your family. You can heal and get well."

Callen pulled back from her "I can't go home…" he said his face terrified, "I'm not safe, I'll kill my father!" he moved back into the corner.

The others walked in, Hunter and Grace instantly understanding what was going on moved the others back.

* * *

Hunter moved to squat near Callen, "It's over…trust me Cal, it's over, I don't feel it anymore, do you?" she asked a tear escaping, she hadn't felt the compulsion to kill her father since Hetty had died.

Callen searched his memory, all the memories he had of his father were the nice ones…he didn't feel any hatred towards Gregori Senior anymore. "No… it's not there…yours too?" he asked surprised.

Hunter got up and walked to the same window Callen had looked out earlier.

"It's gone…Cal…it's finally over, it must have been attached to Hetty somehow…" she trailed off and stared out of the window, "At least you can go home." She said sadly.

"Kells?" Callen said softly, turning but not letting go of Anya, "You can go home." He said.

Hunter turned around tears in her eyes, Kensi, Deeks, Sam and Vance looked at her surprised.

"No I'm dead, I've been dead to him for so long, it wouldn't be fair."

"He never stopped loving you." Callen said.

Hunter shook her head, "You have your family Cal, they can heal you, you go home to them, belong to your family, they need you." She turned on her heel and walked out.

Callen pushed past the others and chased her.

"KELLY!" he yelled.

Hunter stopped, "That is not my name, not anymore." She said sadly.

"Please…" Callen said, "You owe me." He reminded her.

Hunter smiled, "Yeah…yeah I do… Always and forever G." she said.

"Then stay…Help me?" he asked.

The others looked on in surprise as Hunter opened her arms and Callen walked to her and held her close, "I'm sorry Kells," he said, "I'm sorry I didn't remember you…I don't know why?"

"You were programmed, you were programmed not to know me when we met again, not to remember what you did for me, what they made you do…I will always owe you for this, Now, Gregori Comescu are you ready to go home."

"I'm scared." He admitted.

Hunter smiled, "I know how you feel, but I will be with you, your sister will be with you, the team, your family, we all need you to come home, we need to get that laptop off of Lexi so that the remaining members of the Factory are put behind bars."

Callen nodded.

Vance walked over to him, "Mr.…Call…G?" he wasn't sure what to call him.

"G's fine sir." Callen said with a smile.

"I have asked Nate to come to Romania to talk to you, we need to sort out your state of mind and I thought you'd appreciate talking to someone you know." Vance said.

Callen nodded "Thanks…I need to get out of here, I need to go home…to see if…if I can." He said he didn't add that he needed to see if his family was alive with his own eyes.

"I will see what I can do." Vance said and headed on down the hall.

* * *

Callen turned to go back to the others still expecting them not to be there when he turned around, but as he did so, he saw the two faces he didn't think he'd see again.

Ami and Greg were standing behind the others, slightly afraid at the amount of torment their father was going through.

"Ami? Greg?" Callen was stunned, he couldn't believe it, they were there and they were alive.

Ami broke first, "DADDY!" she screamed and ran past the others to run into his arms, "We thought you were dead, Ilena said you weren't but I thought you were dead, we only just got you, and I can't lose you again."

Greg jogged up and pulled his father into a hug as well. "We can't lose you again." He added, "We love you."

This was the first time any of his children had told him they loved him. He broke and fell to his knees still holding his children, "I love you both too, I'm sorry, I didn't mean for any of this to happen in your lives."

"You're ok Papa. We love you and as long as you are here and alive, things will be ok." Ami said her tears softly wiped away by Callen's sleeve.

"Shhh. Shhh little one, Papa's got you." Despite the residual worries in his head, right now his little girl was crying and needed him. This was more important.

He didn't care that he was sitting on the floor in a corridor of a strange hospital holding his daughter and for the first time since he woke up, he didn't want to kill himself anymore. He had found his center.

 


	21. Chapter 21

Discharged and with his daughter clinging tightly to his arm, Callen sat in the back of Sam's car, with Sam and the wheel, Ilena sitting beside him and Anya and Ami sitting in the back both holding G's hand. Callen himself was staring out of the window looking straight ahead and not saying a word, his grip on Anya tightened the closer he came to his house.

He had spent a week in the hospital, never alone at any moment; everyone had taken their turn sitting with him and talking to him trying to help him heal. His wound was securely wrapped he had a ton of antibiotics to take and frankly moving hurt like being punched in the gut with a sledgehammer. But right now he wasn't registering any of it.

Vance had pulled strings to get him out of the hospital as quickly as possible, he knew that to separate Callen from his family now would be damn near impossible and he had been calmed when Anya told him of her medical training and her contact nearby who was a doctor and would look in on Callen until he had healed.

* * *

As the small convoy of cars pulled up outside the Comescu compound Alexa walked outside to see her brothers' arrival.

Grace got out first, looking over as Hunter got out of the other car and walked towards them.

"Are you sure he's going to be ok?" Grace asked.

Hunter looked over at him, "He will be, he just needs convincing…I mean do you feel the need to kill him anymore?" Hunter asked.

Grace looked shocked, "I…I never said, how did you know?" she asked.

Hunter smiled, "I found a file, my job was to kill my father if he continued to look into a drug cartel that killed my mother, but he took another path and backed off, I have seen him from afar a few times and felt the urge to kill him, I've felt it when I've thought about him, but not since Hetty died, I think her being alive was the catalyst, now she's dead those deaths aren't important to her." She said.

Grace looked at her and could see the worry and sadness in Hunter's blue eyes. "Will you ever go home?" she asked.

Hunter shook her head, "It's too late for me, I've been gone too long, but we need to get Callen back to his family,"

"You said you owed him…What did he do?"

"You saw the film…the one when he was a kid," Hunter said quietly.

Grace nodded, "We all did, I thought he was dead and that was why he didn't come back." She admitted.

"The film was made at the factory, I don't think he knew that Davis was part of that I don't even know if he knew it had been filmed but I know they wiped his memory of it. All he knew was that I had been called for punishment and he thought I shouldn't be hurt so fought with the instructor and took my place, that should have been me on that film." She said, "And I will owe him for that until the day I die."

* * *

She turned as Anya got out of the car holding G's hand.

"It's ok." She said coaxing him out of the car.

Callen got out and looked over at Hunter and Grace, both of them had seen that look before on the tape.

"Hey…G, its ok…it is going to be fine, you can go inside, we will all be with you." Grace said holding on to her brothers' shoulder.

"But…" Callen said looking fearfully towards the house and Alexa; "What if it's not gone…what if…" he stopped as images of his family lying all dead in front of him assailed his senses.

"Papa?" Ami said climbing out of her side of the car.

He gave her a small smile, "I'm fine baby." He replied, the smile not reaching his eyes.

Callen shot Grace a look, which she caught and she and Hunter moved closer, "We're here for you G. I promise," Grace said

Callen looked around and realized he wasn't alone, Ami and Anya had hold of his hands, supporting him as he limped slowly from the car his stomach wound still aching, his team were dotted around him his son behind him and Vance bringing up the rear, with Alexa still in front smiling as he walked up the path.

"Kels." He said shooting a look at Hunter.

She smiled and walked over to him, "G. I promise, one false move and I'll put a bullet in you myself." She said. Sam and Kensi who were within earshot shot her a look and looked confused and angry, but Callen relaxed.

"Thank you." He replied watching as Hunter took a grip on her gun.

He walked towards the door and Alexa wrapped him in her arms, "Welcome back little brother, I missed you so much." She said in his ear.

"I'm so sorry Lexi." G said, he let a few tears out but tried to keep his emotions in check.

"You kept us safe from that mad woman, I am so proud of you." She replied, kissing his forehead and moving to let him into the house, he walked as far as the door and stopped.

"I…I can't…" he said softly, letting the others go past him into the house.

They all went inside knowing that this was a big hurdle for him, he tried to move his feet but he couldn't. Anya nodded at Ami to go inside and then she pulled Callen over to the bench outside the front door and sat with him.

"Talk to me my love," she said gently.

Callen looked at her, "I know they're ok…I can see they are ok, but I know I'm not…what if it isn't over, what if I can't help it, what if I kill him?"

"Your sister and …Hunter?" Anya stopped and looked at him for clarification, Callen nodded and she went on, "They are sure you will be ok, you've been through so much, home is just there…just the other side of the doorway, all you have to do is step through." She said coaxing him.

"I want this so bad, I want to spend time with my father…my children, you…but I'm dangerous, I don't deserve to have a family, I could…" he couldn't voice it and he looked down ashamed.

As shadow cast over him and Anya got up. "I think my love there is someone you need to talk to."

Callen flinched for a second thinking it was his father, as he looked up he saw someone he hadn't expected. "Nate?" he said surprised.

Nate smiled, "I hear you have a new name." he said as he took Anya's place next to Callen and handed him a cup of tea.

Callen looked at the tea and put it down.

Nate noticed but said nothing, "I have," Callen said, "My name is Gregori Comescu."

For the first time Callen's smile met his eyes, "I have kids Nate." He said.

Nate nodded, "I met them, your daughter is beautiful, and your son is a lot like you."

Callen laughed softly. "So he is." He agreed.

"And their mother, you met a long time ago?" Nate asked.

Callen nodded, "My first case, met my father then although I didn't realize." He stopped as he realized that for the first time he didn't feel that twinge of anger when mentioning his father.

"What?" Nate said picking up on it.

"It's not there…I mean Kel…Hunter said it wasn't there, but I wasn't sure, but just now…it's not." He looked up surprised.

"What's not there?" Nate said waiting, he was he admitted surprised that Callen was opening up to him, but he let it go.

"Every time I saw him, heard his voice or mentioned him…I needed to kill him, I needed to do it and then kill me, it was like a compulsion, you know?" G looked over at Nate who looked thoughtful and then nodded.

"I think so, like being hypnotized?" Nate asked.

Callen snapped his head up. "That's it! That's exactly it!" he stood up and paced for a moment and then sat down as the pain got too much. Nate helped him sit and then looked at the tea.

"You didn't drink it." Nate said.

"I hate tea." Callen said honestly.

Nate was the one to be surprised this time, "You don't, you drank it all the time?"

"I never used to, then Het…then she came and I drank tea all the time, remember before with Mace? I drank coffee then, I like coffee…Nate? Do you think she could have used it as a trigger?"

"It's possible, it's been a week since she died how do you feel?" he asked.

"About killing her?" Callen asked.

Nate nodded.

Callen shrugged, "I don't know…"

"What about Davis?"

"He'd better stay dead." Callen growled, "I don't regret it, either of them…"

Nate nodded.

"Should I?" he asked.

Nate wondered about it, he had since he had been given the call a week ago, "No…I don't think you should, what they did to you should never happen to anybody."

Callen nodded, he lifted his cup and tipped the tea onto the shingle that surrounded the bedding plants. "Nate…would you. I mean would you mind…coming with me while I see my father?" he asked his hand shaking slightly.

Nate smiled, "I would be honored to meet your father." He said.

* * *

Nate stood up and held his arm, Callen bit back a smile as he noticed his family and friends suddenly engrossed in anything but watching him as they walked to the door.

"Don't think about it G, it's just another step." Nate said as Callen stepped over the threshold his grip tightening on Nate's arm.

"We are going upstairs," Nate said to Alexa who nodded.

"Anya is upstairs with father, Gregori you will be fine little brother, we will all be right here."

"Kel?" Callen looked over as Hunter walked around the corner with Grace.

"I'm right here G." she said she showed him the gun and he nodded allowing Nate to help him upstairs.

Callen led Nate to a room; he knocked on the door and an old voice replied, " _ **Come in**_?" in Romani.

Callen smiled and opened the door. "Papa?" he called.

His hand clenched as he put his head around the door and Hunter tightened her grip on her gun.

Gregori Comescu Senior looked up at his son, tears in his eyes, "I hear it is over my son." He said in broken English.

Callen looked at him and sighed with relief it wasn't there, the inbuilt hatred the urge to kill was all gone.

Suddenly all the years melted away and Callen pulled away from Nate and rushed to his father's side, Gregori patted the side of the bed and Callen sat and held his father, both father and son crying in relief at being reunited.

"I thought I might have lost you again." Gregori said.

"Me too papa…I'm sorry, I fought so hard, I didn't want to hurt you." Callen cried.

Anya walked over and kissed Callen's head, "You two stay and talk, we will be right downstairs." She said.

"I…I…" Callen looked panicked. Hunter walked over to him.

"G, if you were going to do it, I would be dead by now and so would he, trust us, it's not going to happen."

Callen nodded, "Kels. Talk to Nate and Vance, Tell them your story, let them help…then we will be even." He said.

Hunter shook her head, "I…I can't…" she stopped, "I can can't I?" she said realizing all the compulsions that Callen had been under were hers too and they were gone.

* * *

The three of them left the room as Callen lay next to his father wrapped in his arms.

Nate turned to Hunter, "You need to talk to me?"

Hunter shrugged.

Nate waited until they were in the dining room with Deeks and Grace and he called them all together.

"Callen is spending some time with his father, the triggers that the factory implanted, are not there anymore, as for you three…" Nate pointed to Hunter, Deeks and Grace, "I am here to help you all, each of you for as long as you need."

Deeks stood up, "Well, seeing as I didn't even know I was under a trigger I suppose it doesn't apply to me."

"Detective Deeks, This applies to you as well, now we know what they did to you," Vance said.

"In fact, it might be a good idea if you go first." Nate suggested, shooting Kensi and Sam a pout that had them laughing Deeks followed Nate to the back kitchen to talk.

Anya sat at the table and looked at the others, "Thank you." She said as she took a drink from Alexa, "Thank you for saving him and bringing him home."

Alexa worked on the evening meal as Anya and Ami fixed the bread and table, Grace looked at them, she wanted to go over to help but she felt out of place.

"Ilena?" Ami called, Grace looked up, "Could you help me?" she asked, she handed the cutlery to Grace so she could set the table, Ami laughed, "It is usually the youngest Comescu's job, but seeing as you are the newest Comescu I thought you would like it.

* * *

Alexa wiped her hands, she had been quiet since they had all got back she nodded at Hunter and walked out the door the younger woman following.

"Alexa?" Hunter said as soon as they were outside and out of earshot.

"Why did you do it?" Alexa asked. "Why did you deceive me and pretend to be Ilena?" She asked.

"You have information I needed," Hunter said not looking her in the eye, "You have the information I still need, Yes Hetty was the head of the factory, but there were others, officials in high ranking positions in the US, They need to pay for what they did to us," she said her eyes burning with defiance and looking straight at Alexa, "I didn't know your Ilena was alive, all Intel was that she was dead, when I met your father I had my suspicions about your brother, but I didn't know for sure, not until Hetty took off for Poland and we discovered Operation Comescu, then I realized she had to be involved and Callen had to be Gregori, I wanted to make sure that you weren't what Hetty said you were. Had you actually been the head of a crime family I would have taken you out before Callen found out, it would have broken him."

Alexa smiled, "I understand, you care about my brother…You do know he loves Anya?" she said.

Hunter smiled, "I know, she is good for him, I care about Callen, but I don't love him…He was…he was there for me during a tough time in my life, and I owe him."

Alexa turned to her, "Do you have family?" she asked, she had she would admit liked Hunter when she thought she was Ilena.

Hunter shook her head, "Once, but not anymore…My mother is dead, she died when I was eight, my father thinks I am dead, I was taken by the factory then. I don't think he'd be able to handle me coming back from the dead," she said sadly.

Alexa looked at Hunter and wrapped her arms around the young woman. "Maybe you should give him a chance." She said.

They looked up and saw Callen sitting with his father looking out of the window at the beach, they were smiling and laughing, "My Gregori was five when he and Ilena were taken, it has been forty years, look at them, it is like they have never been apart, A father's love for his child does not disappear with years it only deepens. Especially if the child isn't there. Talk to your Nate and Director, trust Gregori's judgment, you say you owe him, do this for him."Alexa prodded.

Hunter looked up again as Gregori Senior wrapped his arm around his son and they hugged again, maybe it was plausible, maybe she too could go home.

 


	22. Chapter 22

Callen came downstairs and walked up behind Anya and hugged her ignoring the pain in his stomach.

"Gregori!" she squealed and turned and kissed him, Ami made a face and took some plates to the kitchen.

"Hello. Father is asleep, and I smelled food, I'm hungry." He said grinning at her.

"Alexa was making dinner, it's nearly ready, sit my love." Anya said helping Callen to the table.

Vance sat next to him. "G…" he said still uncomfortable calling him by his first name.

"Director." Callen said not taking his eyes off of Anya as she stroked his face and walked back into the kitchen.

"Can we talk?" Vance said.

Callen reluctantly pulled his eyes away from her and looked at his old boss. "Sure." He said non committally.

"What are your plans for after you heal?" Vance asked.

Callen shrugged, "I don't know…I mean I don't have a job right now, I don't want to leave my family, especially not my children or Anya…I don't have a Romanian passport so I have to get my birth certificate and reapply I suppose, so I don't get kicked out of the country."

"As far as I am concerned you have a job…I may even have an offer for you."

Callen looked at him.

"How can I have a job I quit, I killed my boss, I assume if I go back to the US I'd be arrested." Callen said frankly.

"As far as I am concerned you mistakenly left your badge on my desk and went on a mission." Vance said.

"Really?" Callen asked surprised.

"Of course I am assuming by your reaction, to your old name, you will need new credentials." Vance said.

G. Nodded. "I am Gregori Comescu, so that would be on my creds….but I can't…My children and Anya, I would have to get them visas to be allowed to come to the country. I can't and I won't be parted from them again."

"I have pull." Vance said with a small smile.

Callen listened; he had loved his job, but now? Now he had a family to care for, he couldn't just go being expendable again. "I don't think I can come back, I mean I know Sam has a family and can go out into the field, but I can't be expendable again, I love my children and I need to be around for them." He said honestly.

"There is a vacancy you might be interested in?" Vance said still trying to keep him.

"What?" Callen asked, apart from his job he couldn't think about any other vacancies, but it was a big agency.

"Los Angeles needs a new Operations Manager." Vance said. "And I'm fairly sure unlike Hunter, the team would follow you."

"Are you sure Leon?" G asked.

Vance smiled, "Pretty sure, seeing as it was there idea…Don't get me wrong Mr. Comescu, I also think your experience would make you perfect for the job, and let's face it you'd be perfect if you ever had to liaise with Gibbs' team." He pushed.

"I would have to talk to Anya and the kids…and my sisters…what about my father…" Callen looked stunned; he suddenly had so many people to consider.

Vance watched as a slow smile crept across his face, "Though it would be nice." Callen admitted.

"Talk to your girl, tonight…" Vance suggested.

"I will," Callen agreed.

He looked up as Alexa and Hunter walked inside, "Sit Lauren, our meal is soon." She said with a smile.

"Thank you." Hunter replied.

Callen looked over at her, "You gonna do it?" he asked.

She nodded, "I think so, I will need to talk to you Leon…I have a story you need to hear." She said.

"After dinner." Callen said, "I need to talk to the team at the same time, so it might be a good time for you both to talk and trust me Leon, you are going to want to hear this."

Leon nodded. He looked around the home, it was a very welcoming place not at all like he had read in the files, and this was the first chance he'd had to sit and watched the family themselves.

Greg came in and grabbed a coffee and an extra and sat down next to his father.

" _ **Did he talk to you**_?" he said in Romani, nodding towards Vance.

"Greg...English…please." G told his son.

"Sorry," Greg smirked at Vance, "So Papa…did he…are you?" he asked with a grin, "Do we get to go to America?" he asked.

"What about your job?" Callen asked his son.

Greg laughed, "Papa…I work for the Comescu Company, I can do that on the internet and can be anywhere, Ami was studying to be a police officer, and maybe she could do that in the US as well? Please Papa, we want to go to America, see your home and stay with you."

Callen sighed, "I will talk to the team and your mother and then let you know." He said honestly, "But wouldn't you miss your grandfather and your Aunt?" he asked.

"We can fly back, it's just a few hours." He argued, it was obvious that they had been talking about it.

Callen laughed, "I will talk to your mother." He said as Greg nodded and left the table.

Vance laughed, "Fatherhood, Gregori, get used to it…there'll be a lot of that."

"And I love every moment of it." He admitted.

* * *

Alexa walked in with a big pot of stew and placed it on the table and whistled. "I hear it works well for your people Gregori?" she said as Vance and G looked at her.

The team all walked into the kitchen as if they were heading to Ops. "What's up?" Kensi asked.

Callen smiled, "Dinner, I think or my sister has a case?" he grinned as Alexa rolled her eyes and went to get the bread. "Amilena?" Alexa called. "Will you call the others for dinner please?"

"Yes Aunt Alexa." Ami said and went off to get the rest of the family.

Sitting round the table Callen realized this was the first time he could truly appreciate his family, he ate quietly watching them talk to his team.

He was amazed at his children; they had been front row…witnesses...Victims? Of Hetty's vendetta and yet they were well adjusted and happy. His team looked relaxed and calm, and he didn't feel any after effects now… maybe Nate was right maybe it was like hypnotism, "Huh? What?" He said as he realized Anya had been talking to him.

"I said my love; I am taking the Ami to the market with Alexa this afternoon so you can talk to your team," Anya said pulling the spoon that had been held at Callen's mouth for five minutes and placing it down. "You are alright are you not?" she asked.

He nodded, "Yeah…I was just thinking." He admitted.

He suddenly stood up and grabbed her hand. "I'll be right back." He said and went upstairs pulling her along behind him ignoring the laughs at the table.

"Gregori?" she said as he took her to their room and shut the door, "Are you…" she stopped as he kissed her hungrily.

"Um…" he sighed, "I needed to do that."

Anya smiled, "Me too." She said and kissed him back and laughed as they landed with a thump on the bed, knowing that it would be heard downstairs.

Twenty minutes later Callen looked at her with a sheepish grin, "Well that wasn't what I meant to do." He laughed.

She kissed him, "You are complaining?" she asked.

"No! No…not at all. I actually wanted to ask you a question, well two actually." He admitted.

"Well my love, if that's how you ask me a question, then I suggest you do all your asking in private." She giggled.

He turned on his elbow and looked at her, "Well this wasn't how I planned it, but….Anya? How would you feel about moving to America with me, you and the children although I already know how they feel about it?" He admitted. "I mean would someone be able to come here and look after Father?" he asked.

"I can arrange that, I already have people who come in when I need a break and my nursing qualifications should be alright in America, maybe I would need some more training, but I do not ever want to be apart from you again." She told him.

"So the answer to my second question would be a yes then?" Callen smirked.

He asked her and her squeal could be heard downstairs. "YES, YES, YES!" she screamed jumping on him and kissing him again.

* * *

Downstairs Deeks put his hands over Kensi's ears.

"Get off!" she laughed.

"I can't have my little sister hearing that." He grinned, making fun of when she had told him she was going to pose as his sister not his girlfriend.

Another ten minutes past, the people in the dining room chatting as they waited for Callen and Anya to come back. Sheepishly they walked back into the kitchen holding hands and smiling.

"So it's a yes then?" Sam asked with a smirk.

Callen laughed, "Yes it's a yes, and she's going to marry me." He announced.

They stood up and congratulated the couple, Ami and Greg hugging their parents both happy with the news.

"I have to go." Anya said as she kissed him, "You need to talk to the others."

He nodded and watched the female members of his family leave.

"I'm going upstairs to sit with Grandfather." Greg said and jogged up the stairs.

Callen sat at the table as his team congratulated him again.

"I have a question to ask you?" he said.

"I'm not marrying you." Deeks quipped and they all laughed.

"I've been talking to Director Vance," he said as Vance, Hunter and Nate walked out of the room.

"Are you in trouble?" Sam asked immediately vowing to have his partners back.

"Not Exactly, I'm resigning as a field agent." He said and waited as the table erupted.

"What?"

"No!"

"You can't!"

"I can't be a field agent anymore, I don't have the edge, and it was something that was imprinted into me by the factory." He explained, "And I have a family now."

"I have a family and I do the work." Sam argued, "You can too, can't you?"

Callen shook his head, "Me…The real me has no interest in getting shot, killing people or any of that. I liked the paperwork." He admitted.

"So…you can still do the paperwork," Sam argued not wanting to lose his partner.

"Sam…I can't go out in the field, but Leon had another option, but it depends on you…All of you." He said looking at his team.

"Leon? Are you and the Director on first name terms now?" Sam asked.

"Kinda," Callen replied.

They looked at him inquisitively, "I have been offered the job of Operations Manager, but seeing how I was kinda responsible for the vacancy I thought you might have objections." He said not looking at them waiting for the recriminations.

"No…You'll be great as our boss…but I ain't calling you boss, G." Sam said with a smirk.

"But you'd be ok with it; I mean you'd have to have another partner…" Callen said, he was wondering how Sam would cope with Nell as a partner, however if Kensi and Deeks ever got their 'thing' off the ground maybe he could shake that up and partner Nell with Kensi and Deeks with Sam.

"Well…?" He looked over at Kensi and Deek who hadn't said anything.

"Well. I think it's great, you're coming back to LA then?" Deeks asked.

Callen nodded, "Bringing the…Family," he said and his smile grew, "I talked to my father about going back, he's ok with it, I can keep in touch with him and if I take this job, I can go visit a lot."

"I'm pleased for you." Kensi said and went and hugged him.

"So I guess I'm coming back then." Callen said.

They looked up as a shell shocked Vance walked in.

"I'm taking you up on your offer." Callen told him.

Vance nodded.

Callen laughed, "I know it was a bit of a shock when I figured it out too."

"I don't know what to say…" Vance said.

"Is everything ok?" Kensi asked.

Vance nodded, "Agent Hunter has just revealed some….interesting information." He said. "Which will keep until we are in D.C." he added.

"So Agent Comescu, will you be returning with us?" Vance asked.

Callen nodded as the others looked shocked, "What? You thought I'd not use my real name?" he laughed, "I am proud of who I am and I don't want to be known by that other name." he admitted.

They all agreed with him.

* * *

A week later, Visa's rushed through by SecNav and goodbyes said all round, G, Anya, Ami and Greg stood at the airport with Ilena and Alexa, Ilena had decided to stay in Romania with her sister and father, electing to help her run the company and make sure everyone knew it was a legitimate company. G hugged them both tightly.

"I'm going to miss you too." He said honestly.

"We will miss you too little brother, but you will be out for Christmas will you not?" Alexa said, "And you promise to call at least once a week."

G nodded, "And I'll call when we get there I promise." He said.

He hugged them again as did his fiancée and children and then they ran to catch up with the others in the departure lounge.

"Hey G!" Sam grinned, "So when does our flight leave?"

G let out a smile; he had discussed this with his father but hadn't told the others yet, although of course his family knew.

A woman walked into the lounge, "Mr. Comescu the CFE jet is ready to take off would you and your passengers like to board and your luggage is already on board."

G nodded. "Thank you…I think we are going now Sam." He grinned.

"The CFE Jet?" Vance said.

"The one thing She didn't lie about, The Comescu family has a big…BIG company, my father is rich." He grinned. "So he lent us the plane for the ride home, more comfy that way." He grinned; what he had actually said was that the heir to the Comescu Empire was not EVER going to fly commercial, he left out that he had given orders for a new jet to be purchased and left at LAX for whenever G needed it. He was however going to tell Vance it would always be available for OSP use, there was no way he was going to be cramped in coach with Deeks again.

Climbing onto the jet he strapped in with his family and friends as they took off he took a last look back at his home.

* * *

It felt strange leaving the land he was born in and this time voluntarily, he held onto Anya's hand and as soon as the fasten seat belt sign was off he was joined in the back by Nate, Anya nodded and let go of G's hand as she went forward to get a drink.

"How are you holding up?" Nate asked.

"It feels strange," G admitted, "Last time I didn't remember anything about this, I don't remember leaving, just losing something and waking up in a hospital, being in trouble for talking in the wrong language. Basically I woke up in hell and lived there for the next 38 years." He gave a small nervous laugh.

"And now you know who you are?" Nate asked, "It's a huge change, you've been through a lot and now you're going back to Los Angeles with a family you didn't know you had into a job, you didn't expect to get."

"You're right Nate, this is a huge change, but a good one, I know who I am…I'm not a killer and I'm not worthless did you know that?" He said with a bright smile.

"I always knew that, it was getting you to believe it that was the problem," Nate admitted liking this new version of G.

"I was conditioned not to believe it, the more I thought I was worthless the more I was worth to…Her…" G said.

"You can say her name you know." Nate said keeping his voice low.

"No…no Nate I can't, I still remember all the good things she did, the way I looked on her like a mother figure, hell there were times in my life when I actually thought she might be my mother, and I trusted her, she was the only person I trusted, but that was she was the only person I was conditioned to trust, but she betrayed me in the worst way, she destroyed my life and I can never forgive her for that."

"Ok but if it hadn't happened." Nate said pointing at Anya and his children.

"I know, I feel like they were the only good things to come out of all this mess, but even then Het…she found a way to take it from me, she made me buy my home, it used all of the money I was saving to go find Anya. I mean I love my home, the Rostoffs' were wonderful people, but I wouldn't have paid as much as she did for it." He told Nate.

"I helped her with the purchase; it wasn't above the odds for that property." Nate said confused.

"You don't think a quarter of a million dollars for a house isn't too much?" G asked stunned, "For _ **that**_ house?"

"What do you mean, I helped witness the sale, and it was $140,000. Hetty got a great deal on it."

G sighed "When will it stop Nate, she's dead, when will she stop messing with my life?"

Nate looked at him, "We'll deal with the paperwork when we get back, and I'm going to want regular sessions with you for six months, Vance's orders."

G nodded, "Seems only fair."

Nate blinked, "The Callen," he stopped as G flinched at the name, "The person I knew as you, isn't the you that you are now is it?" he asked.

G shook his head, "No… I feel different, freer, more me."

Nate looked at him and smiled, he held out his hand and G took it.

"Hi I'm Nate Getz and I'll be your therapist for the next six months to the rest of your life."

G shook back, "Gregori Comescu II, my friends call me G, I'm gonna be your boss, for a while, maybe longer." He joked.

"I'll look forward to it." Nate said honestly as he moved forward in the plane to enjoy the rest of the flight.

 


	23. Chapter 23

Landing at LAX it was night and as they got off the plane, G looked at his tired family, he smiled. They were home.

He suddenly had a thought, he didn't have any furniture. He couldn't take them to his home.

He stopped dead as the others walked out of the terminal.

"G?" Nate said noticing he had stopped.

"I can't go home." G said looking worried.

"Another trigger?" Nate asked worried.

"No…No furniture." He admitted embarrassed.

Nate laughed, "We have your back, you have basic of everything, all rooms have furniture and bedding, you can change it later but it should do you for a while."

"How?" G asked amazed.

"We had a week from your decision, also you should know…the office, it's been cleared of all her stuff, and it's been taken for the investigation."

"So Eric and Nell know then?" G asked.

"Yeah, they were shocked but they don't blame you…they did ask if they could have a red bull machine in Ops and Oreos." He added.

G laughed, "I suppose I owe them," he said picking up his bag.

"I think you might." Nate said.

G walked over to the Director, "Do you have anywhere to stay?" he asked.

Leon shook his head, "I was going to find a room at a hotel, I assume Agent Hunter would be looking for a room also." He said.

"Hey Kels?" G called.

Hunter turned, "Still! G! You have to keep calling me that?" she sighed as she picked up her bag.

"Get used to it, you and Leon are staying with me tonight." He said.

Hunter nodded, without question and followed him.

Outside the airport the group said their goodbyes, "So we'll see you tomorrow G?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, It's the weekend, Office reopens on Monday." He said, "Go home Sam, spend time with your family,"

Sam grinned; he liked his new boss already.

"Come for lunch with Michelle and the girls on Sunday; give her chance to meet Anya and the kids." G said.

Sam nodded, "I'll have to hold her back till then, but yeah." He agreed.

Ami walked up to her father and yawned putting her head on his shoulder, "Papa…I'm tired can we go home now?" she asked.

G turned his head and kissed her cheek, "Sure can baby girl," he waved down two taxis and they piled in G giving the address and paying both of them when he arrived.

* * *

Vance walked in and looked around the house; he turned to talk to G who was staring at the building like he'd never seen it before.

"Gregori?" he asked.

G looked bemused, "It's…wow! Eric and Nell outdid themselves." He was surprised; the whole house was redecorated tastefully, the furniture was comfortable, the thing he noticed the most was some of it looked like the original family pieces, the Rostoffs had in the home when he was a kid. "There's so much stuff!" he whispered awed.

Vance looked at him, "You didn't do this?" he asked.

G shook his head, "No…I kept it empty, I never felt the need for possessions, I can't believe it, it's a real family home…just like…before."

The kids walked in sleepy, G looked at them, "Go find your rooms," he said

Ami found hers first, a delicate lilac room with a twin bed, a desk and new computer on the desk. It had her name and an envelope taped to the door, Greg had the same, but his room was a powder blue. Inside the envelope were passwords to the new computers and keys to the locks on their doors.

Callen walked down to his room to find an envelope on his door. 'G and Anya'

He opened it.

G Welcome home, we missed you. Hope you like the things we got you, don't worry about the cost it was all paid for by SecNav. You can change anything you want but we hope it does while you settle back in.

See you Monday

Eric and Nell.

G smiled at the letter and showed Anya.

He knocked on Ami's door, "You got room for one more?" he asked.

"Hunter?" she said sleepily.

G nodded, "Not a problem is it?"

Ami shook her head, "No let her in." she said pulling the duvet over her head, "Just tell her I'm sleeping." She said muffled by the duvet.

G nodded and closed the door.

"Director, I hope you don't mind you get the couch." G said walking into the living room with an arm full of bedding, "Kel, you're in with Ami. She said be quiet she's sleeping."

Hunter nodded and grabbed her bag. "I'll take the floor, no problem." She smiled.

Finally after everyone was settled G climbed into bed with Anya, they were so tired that within moments they were both snuggled in each other's arms and fast asleep.

* * *

Waking up in another strange bed wasn't that unusual an occurrence for G, but realizing he was in bed in his own home with his family was, that and the fact that it was morning and he had slept all night.

"Morning." He said as he felt Anya stir.

"Sleepy!" she groaned.

He smiled, "That's Jet lag, don't worry, it'll pass, I'll get you a coffee." He said getting up.

He headed for the kitchen knowing today would be interesting, Sam's family were coming to get acquainted with his family, and on Monday the Director and Hunter would be leaving for D.C.

G walked into his kitchen and opened the cupboard and stopped in amazement, they were full! He had only expected to find the fixings for his coffee machine, he looked in the fridge expecting to see the 2 beers he'd left in there, and they were full too. He smiled as he spotted another note on the counter, "Got stuff for a Sunday BBQ with Sam's family enough to feed everyone don't worry, and there's breakfast food too. Nell."

G picked up his phone and called Nell.

"Hello?" a sleepy voice came on the other end.

"Eric?" G smirked as he heard the phone drop and Eric curse on the other end; he listened as there was frantic whispering.

"Hey G." Nell's bright voice came on the phone, "You alright, is there a problem?" she asked.

It was all he could do not to laugh down the phone, "No…No problem, I just wanted to say thank you, and…err…invite you and Eric over to lunch as well, I figure you need to be filled in on stuff." He said

"Sure no problem, what time do you want us?"

"About 2pm?" G asked hoping it didn't seem too late.

"That's great," Nell said.

"Oh and Nell…." G said, "Congratulations you and Eric make a nice couple." He smirked as she got flustered.

"What? No! We fell asleep playing left for dead last night." She said.

"Yeah…" G closed the phone and proceeded to make his girl and kids their first American breakfast. He made enough for Leon and Hunter too and looked up with a grin as Leon walked into the kitchen in his boxers and a T-Shirt.

"Coffee?" he asked.

"Please." Leon said and tiredly rubbed his eyes.

"Bathroom is down the hall if you need it I suggest you use it before the girls wake up." He said.

Leon agreed with him and headed that way carrying his coffee.

He got the steaks, chicken and fish out of the fridge, marinated some and put it back in the fridge for later and got on with the pancakes and sausages for breakfast.

An hour later his family started emerging for food, the smell enticing them out of the room.

Anya walked into the kitchen, took one sniff and bolted for the bathroom.

Ami looked at her mother, "Again?!"

G looked at his daughter, "What do you mean again?"

Ami shrugged, "I think she picked up a bug, last few days she's been sick. We might have to find her a doctor."

"Go eat your breakfast, I'll see to your mother." He said.

He walked into the bathroom as Anya sat back against the bath and mopped her face with a cool towel.

"Are you alright honey?" he asked.

Anya nodded, "I think it is the meal Alexa cooked, I've been sick on and off for the last few days."

"You don't think?" G looked at her.

"No? NO!" Anya looked stunned, "Not again, it couldn't happen twice?"

"We didn't think it could happen the first time, but are only 43, it is still a possibility." He admitted. "You get dressed and get some breakfast and I'll run to the drugstore."

Anya looked stunned, "No…not again…it can't be?"

* * *

When G returned from the drugstore, everyone, save for Anya had eaten, she hadn't left the bedroom and Ami and Hunter were cleaning the kitchen.

Greg and Leon were out the back getting the BBQ ready for their guests and he popped over to see how they were doing.

"You guys ok?" G asked.

Leon nodded, "We're fine, Anya hasn't come out of her room, is she alright?" he asked concerned.

G smirked, "Maybe…we will see." He said and headed back in the house to check on her.

"Gregori?" she said as G walked in to see her sitting on the bed with her knees drawn up, "Can we do this…I mean, what if they send me away again?"

G took the small package out, "No matter what this says you will never leave me, you will be my wife and you are the mother of my children and the only woman I have ever loved. You will never be apart from me again, you are the only woman I will ever love," he said and pulled another small box out of his pocket and slipped a small diamond solitaire ring on her finger.

"It's beautiful." Anya said.

"It was my mothers, my real mothers; Father gave it to me to give to you." He said.

She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him.

He laughed and handed her the box. "What does it say?" she asked.

"You can't read English?" he asked amazed.

"I've never had too, I read Russian and Romani, I speak English, your father insisted Lexi teach me so I could talk to you if we met again."

"Oh…I didn't know," G grinned "I'll teach you,"

Anya nodded, "That is good but for right now?"

Callen looked at the leaflet with the box and turned the instructions to a set in Russian, "There." He handed it to her and she headed into the bathroom with the box and leaflet.

* * *

Sam, Michelle and the girls turned up and went out the back where Greg and Leon were working the grill while Ami and Hunter were making Salad; Michelle joined the girls as Sam walked past.

"Hi, Where's G?" he asked.

"Momma hasn't been too well he's helping her." Greg said.

Sam raised an eyebrow but said nothing but, "Ok." He looked at the steaks and the chicken cooking nicely on the BBQ. "I brought beer, you want one?" he asked both men.

They nodded and he dished the beer out watching Sam's girls play on the swing at the end of the garden.

G joined them ten minutes later a smile plastered from ear to ear. "Hey guys, gotta beer for me?" he asked grabbing one and ruffling his son's hair, "Your mother wants a word." He told his son, "Take Ami with you." He said.

He watched as Greg went indoors to find his mother.

"Everything ok?" Leon asked. "Greg said she was sick."

"Kinda." G grinned.

"Kinda?" Sam hated it when G played his cards close to his chest.

G took a drink of his beer and sat on the bench watching the girls. "I'm looking forward to that." He smiled.

"What?" Sam asked.

"Pushing my kid on the swing, taking them to school…"G grinned even wider.

"Your kids are 26 G?" Sam said.

G shrugged, "Yeah but the new one won't be,"

Both Sam and Leon got it at the same time, "Congratulations Gregori…" Leon said.

Sam just hugged him. "Cool G." he grinned, "You told your kids yet?"

"Anya's handling that, I'm still getting to know them, we figured it would be better coming from her."

There was a loud excited squeal from inside the house and Ami ran out and hugged her father. "I'm so pleased." She grinned.

Leon laughed, "Your Ami reminds me of Abby Sciuto."

G raised an eyebrow, "She's not a Goth Leon." He smirked.

"Nope but she is a hugger." He laughed.

* * *

The meal went perfectly the news of Anya's pregnancy rounding off a perfect day.

After they had all gone home, G sat on the porch and pulled out his cell phone.

"Gibbs, how you doing?" he said as the man on the other end picked up.

He listened for a few moments and then grinned, "I found her, we have twins…and another on the way." He laughed at the sound of surprise at the other end. He had needed this more than a talk with Nate.

"I found my family; I have a name, its Gregori Comescu II." He waited as Jethro talked on the other end; he had heard about Hetty and Davis and told him how it was big news throughout NCIS.

"How bad is it?" he asked his gut clenched, then relaxed as Gibbs talked him through what he had heard.

"Mmmm, not too bad then, mostly facts, just one thing, I killed Hetty." He told his friend.

Gibbs' voice was heard down the phone, "That stays between you and me kid, I ain't gonna spread rumors."

"Thanks." G said and really meant it.

"You'll have to come up in a few months, meet the kids, at least come up for the wedding?" he asked hopefully.

"I wouldn't miss it G." Gibbs said honestly.

"Tell me that in a week." G said sadly.

"Why in a week?" Gibbs asked.

"You'll see, just trust me, it's going to be ok." He said.

"G?...you holding back kid?" Gibbs asked.

"Yeah, but this time it's a good thing pop. Honest." G said.

"I gotta go, Anya's waiting for me, talk again in a few days?" he asked.

Gibbs answered him and hung up.

"I hope." G said to the empty phone. He stood up and walked towards the house.

Hunter looked up as G walked in, "I just talked to him, I didn't say anything, but he's ok." He told her.

"Thank you, Leon and I are about to head out, we're catching a red-eye to Washington, and I'll call you after." she said as she hugged him.

"Good luck." He said as he hugged her back.

Leon turned to G, "Agent Comescu, and your new credentials will be on your desk in the morning and your badge is on your desk, I had your desk moved to that area, there is no trace of her there."

G sighed in relief, "Did you find a file…one with my name on?" he asked.

"There was, I had it sent to Washington, did you want it back?" Leon asked him.

G nodded, "I do…I have seen the file once or twice, I think for closure I need to see it."

"I'll have it shipped as soon as I get back." Leon promised. "Good luck in your new posting." He said as the taxi pulled up.

"Bye Leon, bye Kels." G said as they got in and drove off.

Anya walked up behind him yawning, "You have a big day tomorrow my love." She said as she pulled his hand and led him to the bedroom.

"I'm not the only one." He smiled as he closed the door to their room and went to join her.

 


	24. Chapter 24

He got up early and walked to his car. He'd had a strange text from Vance last night telling him to get into the office early.

Gibbs stopped by the diner and got Elaine to fix his coffees before he headed in for the day.

Drove past the cemetery where his wife and daughter were buried stopped for a moment with the window down and listened to the birds singing the dawn chorus as he did most mornings, he never had time, nor the inclination to get out of his car, but he would pull up in the car park and have his first coffee with his girls like he did most mornings. He looked over at the cherry blossom on the trees overhanging his family's graves. He smiled slightly, he knew both Shannon and Kelly loved this time of year, and they themselves would get up early and watch the sun come up on mornings like this when they were alive.

"Ok Girls, I gotta go to work." He said. Throwing the empty cup out of the window and smiling a little as it landed in the trash can.

He started the car up again, looking at his second cup already in the cup holder and still wondering what was so urgent headed off to the office.

* * *

G woke up at 6 am to hear Anya throwing up in the bathroom,

He smiled; she wasn't sick, just pregnant. He got up and went into the shower stroking her back as he walked past her, "Do you need anything Hun?" he asked.

"A new stomach...?" she asked hopefully, he kissed the top of her head and climbed in the shower.

As he got out she was leaning back wiping her head with a face cloth, he leaned over and held out a hand, "Come on. You go back to bed I'll get you some ginger ale and crackers before I head off."

She smiled as he pulled her up and kissed her.

She sank back gratefully on the bed as he walked in with the drink and food, "Thank you." She sighed as she sipped the ginger ale and her stomach subsided. She watched as he got dressed for work.

"No suit?" she asked.

"No. I've never worn a suit before, unless I was undercover, and I'm not going undercover, so jeans and a shirt it is." He grinned as he pulled out a blue shirt to go with his jeans.

"Nice." Anya said looking admiringly at him.

"You rest today, Michelle is going to come over later to show you around Los Angeles, and see about getting you a driving license and any other paperwork you need."

Anya nodded, "Thank you and Thank Sam, his wife is very nice."

G kissed her, "I'll see you later." He said he grabbed his bag and left.

An hour and a half later he was standing outside the mission staring at the doors.

"Not going in?" Nate asked after watching him stand there for ten minutes.

G shrugged, "I kinda keep expecting her to be behind the door, or in her office…ya know?" he said his hands were clenched by his sides, "I can do this Nate, I gotta do this, I'm in charge now…got a meeting with Leon in an hour, gotta make it inside by then." He grinned sadly.

"Come on then Boss, let's go in." Nate said holding the door for him.

G knew he wasn't getting out of it so he followed him inside.

* * *

Nate stood just behind him as he entered but waiting as G took in the small changes.

"You ok?" he asked as G stood there.

"It's different." He said, the area where Hetty's desk had been was no longer dark and cluttered. It was painted a bright color and a new large desk with accessories and a large leather chair, a desktop computer and a new burgundy colored laptop sat on the desk.

"This is good though right?" Nate asked.

"Not sure," G shrugged, suppose I'd better go and check it out. "Coming?" he asked.

Nate nodded, he had seen the chairs the other side and he did want to check those out.

G sat at his desk and opened the drawer; his badge, gun and new credentials in the name of Gregori Comescu were inside the drawer and an envelope with Hetty's handwriting G. Callen to be opened in the event of my death.

He turned the envelope over in his hands and then put it in his bag.

"You're not going to open it?" Nate asked.

"Not yet. She's got nothing I wanna hear…or read right now, I just wanted to have the folder, it's about me and I didn't want the Feds to get their hands on it." He said.

Nate smiled, this new…open G, was easier to work with, he liked him.

"Morning G!" Sam called as he walked in the building.

"Sam! G smiled, "Like it?" he asked showing off the new office.

Sam looked around, "It's brighter, less oppressive, it suits you." He grinned, "So boss do we get new stuff?" he asked

G grinned, "Might see if you can get new laptops, if you get your paperwork done in time." He bargained.

Sam smiled, "We will see." He grinned; he headed back to his desk and waited for the rest of his team to come in."

"Oh Sam, you need a new agent there are files on your desk." G called.

"How did you know about the files?" Nate asked.

"Saw them on his desk as I came in," G admitted, "I have to go, I have a meeting with Leon, listen work with Sam on picking a new team member will you?" he asked.

Nate nodded and went off to annoy Sam as G intended.

* * *

Standing in front of the screen at Ops, Leon and Hunter stood in MTAC.

"Morning Leon, Hey Kels. Good flight?" he asked.

"It was good G." Hunter said.

"Have you seen him yet?" G asked.

Hunter shook her head, "He's due in soon, I'm nervous." She admitted.

G smiled, "You'll be fine, he'll be fine, He knows something is going down, but he doesn't know what I prepared him as much as I could last night." He told her.

"That will I hope make things easier Agent Comescu." Leon said.

G smiled at the use of his real name.

"I like the new office, Leon, Thanks…Sam's looking for a replacement for me, although we both know I'm irreplaceable." He grinned and even Leon laughed at that.

"So anything pending?" G asked wanting to get right into it.

"Nope I've sent you an email with your upgraded passwords and codes so you can look over the cases that we have, see what jumps out at you." Leon said.

G nodded, "Ok."

"Enjoy your new Job Agent Comescu, if you need me call….just give me four hours before your first call, I think Gibbs might need my undivided attention."

"Ok…Tell him he can call and yell at me later." G said.

Leon nodded and the screen went to the test bars.

* * *

G unlocked the room and walked out to see Nell and Eric in the bullpen chatting with Kensi, Deeks and Sam.

He was out of the circle again, he was the boss now, but he wasn't going to be like _ **her**_ , not a bit. No sneaking up on the team, no making them feel uncomfortable. This was a new start.

"Hey!" he called from the balcony, they all looked at him, "Full staff briefing in the gym in five minutes."

Eric and Nell nodded as G jogged down the stairs, shooting a glance at Sam he headed to his office.

Sam walked over, "You ok G?" he asked.

"Yeah, I talked to Leon, but I need to talk this out with the rest of the office."

"I got ya back G you know that." Sam stated.

G smiled "I know."

They headed to the gym; he smiled as he realized Eric or Nell had set up a podium for him. He climbed up and waited for the hubbub to quiet down. In the end he looked at Eric who whistled and they room fell silent.

"For those of you who don't know…Hetty Lange is dead." He gripped the podium till his knuckles went white. "Although the details of what happened are confidential, you should know that I was the one who killed her." He waited as the hubbub started up again. Slowly it died down.

"I have been named as her successor; Director Vance is backing my appointment, due to the nature of Hetty's death any agent who doesn't want to work under me may request a transfer without it impacting on their resume. Also you should know I am not and never was Agent Callen. My name is Gregori Comescu, so Agent Comescu or G will be fine if you need to address me." He said focusing on the climbing wall. He got lost in his thoughts for a second as he could see himself racing Hetty up the wall one of the few times they did something fun together.

Sam coughed and focused him again.

"If you wish to leave, let me know by the end of the day and we will do all we can to relocate you?" He said fairly.

No one moved, "There is also a new policy, my office is an open door, you have a problem, personal or work related and you don't want to talk to Nate…and let's face it most of us don't….Sorry Nate…" he added, Nate grinned, "Then you can come to me, I will listen and where I can I will help, unless it is classified, don't keep a secret that is going to harm you, share and let someone help." He said.

He nodded and stepped down off the podium as he saw a pair of blond headed adults walk into the gym.

An agent at the back stopped them.

"Who are you? This is a secure facility." He said

"Agent Johnson, it's fine, those are my children, another thing, you can tell your families where you work and they can call you for emergencies or if they need you. Only the bad guys need to not know where we are, your families are fine." He said.

He stepped down ready to have the whole pack of Agents turn on him. He stopped as they started applauding.

The twins walked over to him and hugged him, "You did great Papa." They said.

He nodded wordlessly and led the kids to his office as the other agents went back to their jobs.

* * *

"So what are you two doing here?" he asked with a smile.

"Uncle Leon gave us the address he said we could come and visit." Ami said.

"Uncle Leon huh?" he smirked.

Greg nodded, "We have opened bank accounts and had our money moved from Romania, we were thinking of buying a house nearby, seeing as you and mama are having another baby."

"Or two…" Ami added.

He looked sad he didn't want them to leave just yet but he was their father and he needed to support not stifle them.

"How far away?" he asked his voice cracking.

"Next door?" Greg grinned, "We talked to your neighbor…crazy woman, she put her house on the market something about the love of her life having a family and lying to her?"

G smiled….his mystery blogger.

"So we figured it's far enough away from smelly diapers but close enough that we could share the back garden?" Ami asked hopefully.

G laughed, "You can afford a house?" he asked amazed.

"We are Comescu's…" Greg said, "Do you know exactly how rich you are?" he asked.

G sighed; he knew he just didn't see how it mattered. "It doesn't mean you can spend your money on anything you want." He told them.

"No but our own house, next door to our parents, paying for Ami's courses so she can get into the police academy and I will be looking for office space for the US branch of CFE." Greg said.

G looked at the kids, his kids, they were all grown up, "Ok…buy the house, but Sunday dinners at home with me and your mother are mandatory." He ordered.

Both kids nodded. "Yes Papa." They said in unison.

G laughed, "Now I have work to do, Ami help your brother look for a good office, not just something with an ocean view." He said as they stood up.

"But…Papa? I love the ocean!" Greg said mock affronted as Deeks walked past.

"I hear that…Hey G…Can we get an office with an ocean view?" Deeks asked as the kids laughed and walked out.

"No!" G growled, trying not to laugh.

* * *

"Er… Agent Comescu?" said a voice behind him; he turned around to see Sally, one of the tech support staff standing there.

"Yes?" he said.

"We…the staff talked, I was asked to talk to you." She said shyly.

G braced himself and allowed her into his office. "Sit down."

She sat in the chair noting the change from when it had been Hetty's office. "None of us want to leave, we don't know why you had to kill Miss Lange, and we don't need to know. If Director Vance thinks you're good enough for the job, then that's good enough for us." She said.

"Sally?" G said looking at her, "How long have you been an Analyst?" he asked.

"Three years this fall sir." She said.

"And you came to tell me this because you lost the vote?" he asked not giving anything away.

"No I offered," She admitted, "I trusted you when you said we could talk to you about anything."

G stood up, "Sam…Give me those files back."

Sam rolled his eyes and walked over with the files.

"Wait here a moment, miss?"

"Quinn." She said.

He picked up the phone. "Nell…can you come to my office." He asked.

Within a few moments Sam, Nell and Sally were sat in his office.

"So…G?" Sam said.

"Meet your new partner." He said motioning to Nell.

"ME!" Nell squeaked.

G laughed, "Nell, you're a field agent, Sally can help Eric, and you can put up with the big guy here, I think it works all round."

"But…." Sally said.

"Yeah?" G looked at her, "I have to finish on time, I have a four year old in Daycare in the city, they shut early." She said, not that she didn't want the promotion, but Hetty insisting they use daycare as far away from her office as possible it had been hard to make it to get him in time anyway.

"Why so far away?" G asked.

"Miss Lange's policy," she said.

G nodded at Sam and Nell who left, "Sally can I ask you a question?"

She nodded, "How many staff here have kids in daycare?"

"About 12 dotted all over the city, we can't bring the children to the one near here, security. Also Ms Lange wouldn't fund a facility onsite…sorry…I know how close you were with her." She said quickly.

"Hang on a sec."

G opened up his email and sent a message to Leon.

"Ok the job is still yours for the first month leave as you need to…I'm organizing a daycare on site, the empty buildings at the back of the mission, with enough light and paint, they'll be perfect for that, I may even have someone to run it, an ex nurse, she's currently pregnant but has brought up 2 children."

"But is she safe?" Sally asked instantly concerned for her son.

G smiled, "I hope so it's my child she's carrying." He said and Sally blushed.

"Thank you sir." She said, "I'll spread the word."

"Tell them the daycare will be free as well, I'll fund it." He said knowing that it would be perfect for Anya and a way to spend some of this money his father had insisted he have.

"Thank you!" she stood up and hugged him. "If I may say so sir, you are having a hell of a first day."

G nodded, he couldn't agree with her more.

He looked up to see Nate leaning on the balcony grinning at him. Then he knew he was doing good.

Just one more thing to check on before he started work on the pending cases.

He picked up the phone.

* * *

In D.C. Gibbs dropped his coffee at his desk and looked up to Leon's office.

Leon was exiting MTAC and called down, "Gibbs."

Gibbs nodded and jogged up the stairs to his office, "Sit down." Vance said and poured him a drink.

"I'm on duty Leon."

"You'll need this…I'm going to fill you in on a classified Operation, called Operation Comescu." He said as Gibbs took a drink.

They talked for an hour as Hunter paced up and down on the mezzanine level and kept looking down at her father's team.

"Who do you think that is?" Bishop asked from her desk.

Tony shrugged "I don't know…" he said, "But she has a badge, maybe an Agent?"

McGee didn't know either, so they worked on the case from yesterday.

An hour and three bourbons later, Gibbs was sitting in shock in his office, "That happened to G, and my…Kelly? Are you sure?"

Leon nodded, "Is she still alive?" Gibbs asked his heart in his throat.

Leon pressed a button and the door knocked.

"Come in?" he said with a smile.

Hunter opened the door and walked in, she stood with her back to the door he hand still on the handle.

"Hello daddy." She said as Gibbs dropped his glass.

"Kelly?!"

 


End file.
